World's End
by SierraPBravo
Summary: After a world wide epidemic tragically effects the lives of all of the OHS Hosts, a dying father, wishing to make amends, will make a confession that will forever change Kyoya Ootori. As secrets unfold, Dr. Ootori's past will profoundly effect the lives of every host and connect them in ways they do not yet realize. M for violence, language and sexual content & very dark themes.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: **I do not own nor am I affiliated with the Ouran High School Club in any way. I only own the story and all OCs.

**Author's Note: ** I've always been a huge fan of dystopian future stories both current and classic, and I like characters with shades of gray, neither completely good nor all bad. This is my sophomore effort to weave the two elements into my own story.

* * *

**Prologue**

A smoggy haze still filled the air, a remanent of the fires that had recently blazed through the busiest streets in Tokyo. The Red Death, a disease characterized by hemorrhages resembling tears of blood, had become a world-wide epidemic at record speed and intensity. With so much loss everywhere, denial was no longer an option, so a rapid wave of fear and anger blew thru the world resulting in riots, looting, arson and mass panic. While the possibility of dying had been terrifying, a still calm had ushered in death's certainty, and the people simply waited.

The evening The Long Night fell on the planet, the world stood still. All businesses closed. No public transportation was running, and most streets were deserted. Before the stations hit dead air, the last news reports instructed people not to go to the hospital, because the beds were full, and the medical professionals were dead, dying or fleeing to be with their own families. Even police officers and soldiers abandoned their posts to spend their last hours clinging tightly to the people they loved.

Desperate people scrabbled to find vaccine, driving hundreds of miles to chase rumors during the month before The Long Night. There hadn't been enough for everyone, and with no time to make more, millions died as the highly contagious plague spread across the world. Men and women of all races, both young and old were all besieged. The disease's only mercy was how quickly it killed. By dawn an estimated eighty percent of the human race laid dead. Those left alive were either immune or vaccinated, and vaccination had not necessarily been a blessing. Certain vaccinated populations became deathly ill but lingered after that evening, continuing to die only slower, and in many cases, with no one to take care of them.

The Ootori group had developed the vaccine a little over eighteen months before The Long Night. Initially, the disease was only life threatening in severe cases, particularly when people with compromised immune systems were affected. Medical professionals recommended inoculation for children, people over 50 and other high risk groups. The Ootori's made a fortune selling the vaccine world wide after the virus claimed the lives of two unvaccinated children.

After the virus mutated, it was stronger, far more deadly, and more resistant to the vaccination. Almost no one over the age of 30, including the vaccinated, made it through the The Long Night unless they were immune while most vaccinated persons between the ages of 10-22 lived. There was something about the surge of hormones in the pubescent ages that bonded well with the vaccine. Vaccinated younger children were still hit hard, and the elderly were decimated regardless.

Although he had been vaccinated months earlier during a mandatory clinic at the school, The Red Death took the life of Ouran Academy's chairman a few days before The Long Night. Chairman Suoh had been a good man who cared about his students, so he insisted everyone of them from elementary school children on up to Ouran University students be vaccinated. Because of his vigilance, the Chairman's son, Tamaki and every other member of the Ouran High School Host Club survived The Long Night.

* * *

Satoshi and Takashi (Mori) Morinozuka buried their father a week ago, and yesterday, Mori helped his cousin, Mitsukuni Haninozuka or Honey as friends called him lay to rest his parents who dies of the plague and brother who died during the riots. Now Honey sat nearby sobbing and clinging to his stuffed bunny, Usa-chan as Mori rinsed a washcloth stained bright red from wiping the bloody tears from his mother's face. Vaccination had only served to prolong the woman's pain and indignity, but the brothers stayed nearby Mrs. Morinozuka, comforting the woman who had lovingly raised them. Mori knew she wouldn't last much longer, maybe only a few more hours, and he thought his brother understood as well.

Over the last year, as the Red Death took the lives of more and more of the unvaccinated parents of their students, the now deceased patriarchs, Aikira Morinozuka and Yorihisa Haninozuka had taken the displaced youths in either at their homes or their closely linked dojos. In the past two days, there had been an influx of young people showing up, bringing what supplies they could carry and hoping for protection from small but steadily growing groups of bandits and terrorists. It would now be Honey and Mori who would be responsible for caring for them, training them and trying to feed them all. Honey had some ideas, but now was not the time. He and Mori could work on rebuilding society tomorrow.

* * *

When Hikaru and Kaoru Hitachiin left for a class trip with their best friend, Haruhi and the majority of Ouran Academy's class 1A, they had no idea they would never see their parents again. Three weeks earlier on what would have been the last day of the trip, reports of the raging epidemic ripping through Japan and the rest of the world hit. Initial reports indicated metropolitan areas were hardest hit, so more rural locations such as Mt. Fuji closed their borders and quarantined the area. Before the phones died, Haruhi had gotten word from her friend Mei that her father was gone. It was the same for the twins. They learned their parent hadn't survived after receiving a call from their personal maids. The twin girls promised to be waiting for the Hitachiin boys when they returned, but a homecoming was unlikely considering airports and train stations were closed, and neither of them knew how to drive.

Currently the twins and Haruhi huddled in the pension with their friends and classmates, commiserating over all they had lost. Haruhi also worried how some of her spoiled and pampered classmates would survive without luxuries and servants to take care of them. The class rep was suppose to take charge, but he was sitting by a window rocking back and forth in a near catatonic state, and Momoka was doing even worse if that was even possible. Haruhi knew the twins would be fine as long as they were together, but Hikaru's temper might damage his credibility as a leader. Karou's was better at holding himself together, but Haruhi wasn't sure the others would follow his lead. Haruhi wasn't sure what to do, but she knew someone needed to take charge before they all starved to death.

* * *

Two days after The Long Night, Yoshi Ootori stood nearby watching as his third son, Kyoya Ootori prepared a car for himself, Tamaki Suoh and Renge Houshakuji,the children of two of Yoshi's now deceased business associates. Kyoya wouldn't show any emotion, and his female companion was speechless for once in her life. The normally chipper, Tamaki Suoh had lost the bright light in his lilac-blue eyes, turning them a dark purple, yet he still did his best to console the shaken girl seated next to him.

Kyoya gassed the vehicle and packed as many supplies as the three could manage, mostly can goods but also medicines, clothes and a few tools. His father looked humbled, broken and maybe even repentant, but Dr. Ootori still showed more warmth and emotion than Kyoya had ever seen from him. The third Ootori son felt his father's new found tolerance for his existence was perhaps caused by the death of the Ootori patriarch's two older sons, doctors who had died at the hospital while trying to save others.

Although his medical research company created the vaccination to protect against the virus responsible for The Red Death, Yoshi Ootori would not be spared. He survived The Long Night only to linger on in misery and pain, bloody tears running down his cheeks. Periodically, blood would trickle from his nose, ears and mouth too, and the stains on the older Ootori's pants testified to other areas of bleeding as well.

Dr. Ootori's relationship with his third son had always been volatile. Unless he was beating the young man, unfairly berating him or using him to make business connections, the older Ootori treated the boy as little more than an unwanted house guest. Kyoya sometimes wondered if his father's attitude towards him was caused by something far more sinister than his status as an unnecessary third son, but the intelligent, young man had never discovered another motive.

Dr. Ootori hugged his son, causing the boy to stiffen before returning an apprehensive embrace. Yoshi began to speak, giving Kyoya an odd feeling, knowing it was likely the last conversation the two would ever have, "I know I was far too hard on you, but I had to motivate you to surpass your brothers. I always knew you were the one. You have endless potential, and you have only just scratched the surface."

The older man's real tears mixed with the red tears and ran freely, but even if the younger Ootori hadn't found his father's comments suspect at best, Kyoya was far too practiced in stifling his own emotions to follow suit. Still the Ootori son offered,"Come with us, Father."

The patriarch shook his head solemnly, "No, the people left alive will want an Ootori to blame, and it should be me. They will find their way to the estate soon enough to string me up, and you should be long gone by then." Coughing into his hand and raising it to show his son the bright red blood, Mr. Ootori continued, "I'm already dead."

Kyoya's father still had more to say. Handing his handsome son a map, he stated, "The government provided some grant funds, but the research belonged to the Ootori group. Your brothers and I as well as a handful of talented scientists were the only people who knew where the real lab was. The coordinates on the back of the map are the key to finding it, and the codes will get you in."

Pausing to look his son over, Dr. Ootori continued, "I know I've mistreated you, but facing my death has given me urgent resolve to make amends. I called you a disappointment, but it wasn't that I didn't love you. In truth, it was because I loved you the most. Any part of you that is anything less than perfect is my fault. Your mother, my true love...the perfect woman..."

After taking a moment to calm his cracking voice, Dr. Ootori continued, "When you were born, I expected perfection, and I couldn't stand seeing my own shortcomings reflected in your eyes. I suppose that's what happens when you play God. You get pissed when someone shows you how wrong you are..."

The older man had started to trail off, and Kyoya was very confused. "Father," he began.

"Quiet boy, who knows how much time I have left to tell you what you need to hear," Dr. Ootori commanded before continuing, "You're special. Not as special as I had thought you would be but still exceptional. You didn't kill your mother by weakening her with your birth as I had led you to believe either. Ms. Ootori was deathly ill before you were ever conceived, and her dying shortly after you were born was just a coincidence. I won't say anymore about her. "

Yoshi looked as if he had more to say about Kyoya's mother, but if he did, he chose to withhold it. Instead he changed the subject to a different woman, "Dreama is in charge of the lab, and she will help you survive, train you and answer all the questions you don't even know you should be asking. You can't trust the others. They're just children anyway, far younger than they seem, but Dreama is loyal to me."

"How do you even know she's still alive?" the teen-aged son asked.

"She helped make the vaccination. She's immune," Yoshi replied before having another coughing spell and nearly spitting blood in Kyoya's face.

Kyoya Ootori had always feared his father, but he had also respected him. After hearing what the man had to say about his mother and having listened to his girlish, sentimental rumblings, he no longer knew what to think. Kyoya started to doubt his father's sanity, but Dr. Ootori seemed lucid enough, and he couldn't think of anything his father could gain by lying to him about this Dreama.

As his car pulled onto the highway, leaving his home and father behind, Kyoya became introspective as he tried to imagine how he would spend the remainder of his life. For the first time he could remember, he had no idea what to expect. Everything he had worked his entire life to achieve had turned to dust in his hands, but he still felt lucky. Millions of people had perished or lost everyone they loved, but not him. He was alive, and as a bonus, he got to keep his big, blonde idiot. A few years ago, Tamaki had shown him that even the craziest of ideas could turn into something special, so if there was any possibility of reshaping what was left of their world into something good, the two of them would achieve it together.

* * *

Chapter 1 is complete, but I'm still tweaking it for sentence structure. I hope to have it up some time tomorrow.


	2. Out of the Wreckage

**Disclaimer**: I don't own Ouran High School Host Club nor I'm I affiliated with them in anyway.

* * *

World's End - Chapter 1: Out of the Wreckage

The two young girls sat in front of the darkened glass of a quarantine, confinement cell, smiling and laughing as children should. The older of the two, Chi was a tiny, slip of a girl who stood only 5'1" tall and had a thin, waif-like body type. As she played the Mary Mack clapping game with her slightly taller but younger sister, her molasses tinted eyes flashed a shade lighter as they danced playfully under the harsh fluorescent lighting shining overhead.

Curiosity from a young age coupled with excellent computer hacking skills brought certain confidential Ootori research files to Chi's attention, and after reading every word, she had gained three new things: self awareness, the distinction of being the only one of her siblings who knew who they were, and most of all, a steadily-building, rage-driven hatred for Dr. Yoshi Ootori.

Before the Red Death took his strength and power, Chi's own personal Dr. Frankenstein had carefully laid out plans for her life before she was ever even ushered into the land of the living. The world needs leaders, thinkers, influencers, infiltrators, attractors, fighters and doers. Chi was acutely aware she was born to be a thinker and a doer, exceptionally qualified to formulate solutions for complex problems and to implement plans for carrying out her solutions. She was also blessed with invasive empathic abilities, a great benefit for any number of applications. The older teenager's entire life thus far had revolved around gaining knowledge for problem resolution, training for implementation planning and the endless chemical treatments and experiments that created her ability to invade the minds of others.

The messy-haired brunette could always come up with an answer, but not everyone would be happy with her solutions. Chi was taught to deal in facts, figures, calculations, statistics and probabilities. Feelings had no place in problem solving. About a year ago she devised and implemented a plan to solve a big problem for her siblings and herself. Collateral damage had been far-reaching and unfortunate, but Chi felt she had done what she needed to do. Frankly, she would make the same decision again if all the variables remained the same.

Maintaining an alluring appearance was of benefit to influencers, infiltrators and attractors like Meri and Eden, but being pretty wasn't necessary for Chi to perform her functions. Wasting time on aesthetics would bring her no merit, so she didn't bother most of the time. Based on her research and calculations, the cute, Asian girl considered her looks to be of average appeal. Chi's black hair was would have been silky and smooth if she had run a comb through it in the past three days, but she had better things to do. All she card about was keeping her locks long enough to hide the data port at the base of her skull. The way her eyes turned upward was the only one of her physical characteristics she felt held any merit. None of her brothers or sisters had eyes shaped like hers, so it made her feel unique. On the other hand, she didn't care much for her flat nose and dark, bushy eyebrows.

Of course, if you asked Meri what her older sister looked like, she would tell you that Chi was the most beautiful girl in the world, and she would mean every word. There was nothing and no one in the entire world that Meri loved more than her older sister. Chi would, of course, say Meri was the most beautiful with her long, wavy, dark-golden hair and eyes so brown, Chi would swear the girl cried tears of pure coaco. The older girl loved to help Meri take care of her hair, lovingly washing it. She always carefully covered Meri's data port before rinsing, and once the waist long locks were dry, Chi gently brushing them 100 strokes. The older sister surmised Meri's mane would be much lighter if they went topside more often. The siblings' love for one another was what kept them from breaking under Dr. Ootori's thumb; therefore, Meri concluded showing affection to one another was always of great benefit.

Chi preferred reading, studying and puzzles to Meri's obsessive routine of yoga, gymnastics, sparring and weapons training, and the difference was apparent in their bodies. Meri was lean and elongated with smooth muscle tone while Chi was naturally thin with fine bone structure and a small layer of baby fat, mostly visible in her cheeks.

Meri giggled wildly after their last round of Mary Mack had switched to Rockin' Robin which was her favorite. Chi joined her in laughing, her bare feet swinging on each side of the bench the girls were straddling. Meri squirmed uncomfortably as Chi stood up and flipped the switch to turn on the intercom.

"Don't turn on the light!...please, Chi,...please," Meri begged. She couldn't stand to look at Mother in her current state, thin, bloody, dirty, and her horrible eyes. The young matriarch's once bright, blue eyes sickened her with the way they stared pitifully every time Meri saw her, and the woman's once lustrous, golden-highlighted, brown hair was dull now and had begun falling out in clumps, causing a large, bald spot on the left side about an inch above her ear.

"I can't believe you of all people are having a problem with this. I've seen you elbow deep in blood! Oh, and let's not forget the whole debacle with rabbit," Chi spat in irritation.

"Hey! It's not the blood that bothers me, and fuck that stupid rabbit. It wasn't like we weren't going to eat it eventually anyway. Besides the rabbit's death was fast and cruelty-free, and this thing with Mother has been anything but," Meri retorted indignantly, "Can't we just sing the song this time?"

"OK," Meri replied, sitting back down and taking her baby sister's hand before the two began, "Dream, dream, dream, dream, whenever I want you in my arms..."

* * *

Honey kept his mind off of his pain by training and meditating. Currently, he was busy working with a group of students. Some of the young people flocking to the dojo were graduates but more were not. In fact many were young beginners. He divided up the more experienced students, so he assigned them as mentors to several of the younger students. Honey planned to work together with them when possible, but the mentors could train the less experienced fighters when he or Mori were unavailable. The system also set up a chain of command system, so he and his cousin would not always be bombarded by questions and concerns by so many.

Currently only mentors were allowed to approach Mori or Honey. Once he got a chance and as more students and other survivors made their way to them, the the pint-sized powerhouse planned to put some more links in the chain as well as some checks and balances in place to protect the underlings from powers tripping mentors, but for now there was a lot of work to be done first.

Mori made a schedule for the experienced fighters to patrol the dojo and keep watch. Bandits, scavengers, and terrorists were a concern. Either Honey or himself had to stay on site at all times to "be in charge;" otherwise, people started to panic. Away teams were sent to scavenge as well as to look for survivors in need of help.

The two cousins wanted to help everyone not just students and graduates of their dojo. Neither young man ever wanted to be emperor, president or even governor, and they certainly never wanted the responsibility of rebuilding society. Nevertheless, neither Takashi or Mitsukuni were cowards, and they would not run from what they had to do.

Today, Takaski was heading up the away team. They had already claimed a buffer area surrounding the dojo, checking for survivors and gathering any necessary resources from the homes or businesses of the recently deceased. Like much of Tokyo, many buildings around the dojo were close together without much yard or buffer areas. Luckily, there was some land suitable for cultivation on the grounds nearest the temple. Currently, there were still plenty of canned foods and dried goods available since the population was so reduced, but eventually, farm land would be necessary.

Other than Mori, the team consisted of two brothers, Isamu and Osamu. The two young men looked very much a like and could possibly pass for twins, but the fourteen-year-old, Osamu was about an inch taller than his sixteen-year-old brother. The team of three was about to secure a convenience store. Isamu kept his back turned to the store to watch out for any on coming threats while Mori and Osamu crouched low on approach, looking through the windows but seeing no one.

The store had been broken into but did not appear to be ransacked. There was glass on the ground outside the store as well as some on the floor as the boys entered. Immediately, Mori felt strange. There was no other way to describe it. He wasn't in pain or scared; quite the opposite, he felt great, energized, happy and open. The boys began to fill their bags with crackers, drinks, noodles, batteries, and anything else they thought they may need for stocking their pantry. Mori made certain to get some chocolate pocky for Honey as well as a few other sweets. Honey was going to have to learn to ration, but for now, Mori would try to keep him stocked. Both of the young man were having fun for the first time since before The Long Night as the scooted around the store, tossing snacks across the shelves to one a other and laughing jovially.

"Hey, check this out," Osamu whistled, lifting a magazine showing a risqué picture of a beautiful woman. Mori widened his eyes and smiled quickly before giving a slight laugh. "Oh, we should get condoms too for when we take in some ladies!" Osama quipped, showing off his martial arts skill as he leaped on the counter but froze there rather than jumping over, "Ummm...Mori..."

* * *

The three girls had been surveying the area. Ari liked the huge herb shop. "We need to protect this and get seeds," the ruddy-skinned beauty insisted.

"I think so too. We are going to need a lot of things to get started," Kenya agreed, smiling at her two sweet sisters.

Do you really think we can do this? A matriarchal system?" India asked hopefully.

"Of course, as long as you two brainiacs help me!" Kenya assured, "I just wonder if...maybe...we should go to Tokyo just to make sure he's dead. I know we poisoned him, but he was vaccinated. It's possible..."

"No! no, it's not possible. Look at all the death around us. It wasn't for nothing. Besides, Pan is taking care of it for us. Once he has confirmation the Ootori bastard is dead, he will be looking for us at the foot of this mountain, and we are damn sure going to be here!" Ari insisted. Everyone always listened to Ari. She was the logical choice for the group's leader, the brain. Kenya and later Pan as well would be the muscle, the group's own hands, and then there was India. She had the brains to be a great leader too but not the charisma. India's abilities were very similar to Chi's, but their application of them was very different. China was a problem-solver, ready to meticulously impose the most logical and statistically sound resolution to the problem at hand, and damn the costs while India was a conflict resolutionist, thinking through all of the possible fallout before implementing a plan, negotiating the best possible outcome with the least harm to everyone. India would be their paradise's heart.

A young boy no older than fourteen approached the group with a ten-year-old on tow. "Find one, Torhu?" Ari asked. The little girl nodded. Aside from the thin layer of filth covering her, and a few splotches of dry blood on her clothes, the young girl was cute as could she could be. Her silky, black hair was held on each side of her head in loose pigtails that had once been styled taut. Torhu had a long, oval-shaped face, but her bangs cut across her forehead in such a way that it gave her face the look of being shorter and rounder. The little girl's skin was darker than most of the other Japanese people Ari had known. Torhu was also set apart from Ari's admittedly limited perceptions of the natives by the green flecks dancing in her light brown eyes. Ari had already practically adopted the pre-pubescent as her own daughter. After all protecting those like her had her been why the three ladies decided to build what they considered a Utopia, a society governed by mothers, sisters and daughters.

"I gassed it up," Taka, the younger girl's brother, said proudly, his own hazel eyes shinning.

"Thanks," India smiled at the boy, "Are you sure there are a lot of girls still alive at that resort three clicks away, Taka?" The boy nodded. He had been working at the resort after school, but had run to find his sister when The Long Night fell.

There were a handful of other young people still alive in the area. When the three sisters found them, most of them looked terrible, frightened, dirty and hungry. Too scared to leave their homes, the children had languished alone, eating what they could scavenge from cupboards and cabinets when nearby stores were well stocked with canned goods. The sisters were survivalists first, warriors and conquerers second, and the first order of business is always to find a water source, secure food and other necessary resources and make a base camp.

The number one reason the girls chose this area to build their utopia was the abundance of easily assessable lakes. Water wouldn't be a problem, and the lakes would provide food as well once they started training their citizens and assigning them jobs just like a mother would lovingly assign chores. Currently the ladies were tagging important places to be guarded. After a short lesson in hand gun safety, loading and shooting, the girls had armed a few of the older girls. The boys were assigned scavenging duties, and the younger girls were to assist with day-to-day chores as assigned by the senior most girl, Kae.

Today they would scout the location of what they intended to make their main base, a luxury resort on a lake. From what Ari had been told, the main building would be easy to fortify to serve as the castle and head of operations if it was as described. The young woman pulled her dark locks back and secured them tightly with a ponytail holder. Her lack of bangs accentuated her high forehead and the sharp eyebrows framing her large, gray eyes.

Looking back and forth at the two people she loved most in the world, Ari commanded, "Kenya, you, Taka and Torhu are with me. India, please stay here and make sure you hold this area. If any outsiders infiltrate, attempt to capture first for interrogation, but no one gets out. Deadly force is authorized to prevent escape. We can't have any scouts bringing in reinforcements."

India gave a slight bow to indicate she understood her orders and the away team headed towards the resort.

* * *

Haruhi was getting tired of all the damn whining and belly aching. There were plenty of able-bodied people around her, so there was no need for her to be doing so much of the work on her own. She wasn't the only person who could gather or ration supplies, nor was she the only person capable of folding blankets, washing dishes or any number of other mundane chores. The resort was turning into a sty. Instead of cleaning up after themselves, these spoiled, rich people would just pick another room. Thankfully, Karou and even Hikaru, with a little encouragement, were helping her, but they were only three people and it was pointless to make rules when there was no one to enforce them. Haruhi really missed her dad. She missed Kyoya Sempai too. Everyone would listen to him. She missed all of the host club members that were not nearby even Tamaki, no, especially Tamaki. The short-haired brunette knew her real father was lost to her forever, but deep in her heart she hoped she would see her host club Mommy and Daddy again some day.

Haruhi was snapped out of her thoughts as the class rep came running into the room and nearly knocked right into her. He was frantic, "You have to do something, Fujioka!"

"Say what?" The girl still pretending to be a boy asked.

"Four strangers are approaching! What...what if they mean us harm?" he whined.

Haruhi sighed, "Hurry and get the twins and bring those two kids from the wrestling team too. There are way more than just four of us. Tell everyone to keep calm. No one must show any fear!"

The class rep ran off to do as he was told. Luckily, the strangers were still outside surveying the grounds when the five boys arrived, and Haruhi informed her "team" of her plan. She also armed everyone with some type of blunt object they could easily pretend to have just happen to have been using when the strangers arrive. The kids were nervous during the wait, but the strangers still arrived more quickly than they wanted.

The first to speak was an attractive, young, woman with very dark skin. She knocked on the door, but everyone froze, too afraid to answer. "I know the building is occupied. We have it surrounded, but we mean you no harm. I am armed, but I will not hurt you if you follow directions and allow me to clear the room for danger," the woman called to them.

"Armed?" the house rep whispered, looking to Haruhi for instructions. The normally level-headed girl was panicked.

"Surrounded?" she mouthed back to him, questioning his declaration of there being just four strangers.

The first thing the Class 1- A students saw was the butt of a gun as the door flung open. The young woman was standing to the side for cover before quickly filling the door way. Holding the gun straight with both hands, she quickly turned from left to right, surveying the scene.

"Is there anyone else in this room?" she asked in a low, serious tone. Everyone frantically shook their heads no. "Good, I need you all over there, sitting in front of that fireplace with your hands flat on your heads."

The class rep lead the way, quickly taking his place on the floor. The other scared kids followed suit and the exotic-looking woman yelled, "Left clear," before another exotic-looking woman entered, also holding a gun. She faced the teenagers in front of the fireplace with a serious expression on her face, but she did not point the gun at them. Instead she held her firearm tilted lower towards the floor, but both hands were still clasping the weapon in a shooting stance. The motion struck Haruhi as something she'd seen Kyoya's bodyguards do to clear an area when they entered a potentially dangerous place. These two very young-looking women were well trained by someone.

As the second woman kept the teenagers in check, the first woman approached a closet on the right side of the room, standing parallel to the door rather than in front of it, she called out, "If anyone is in this closet, this is the time to come out with your hands on your head. One...two...three..."

Shortly after three the woman reached over with one hand to turn the doorknob while still aiming the gun with her other hand. Finding the door locked, she returned her free hand to her gun as she bent the knee of her right leg, releasing it in a kick so powerful, the doorknob broke and popped loose and the door staggered open. Quickly surveying a closet filled with towels, blankets and shelves containing boxes of extra soaps, hand lotions, shampoo, and condoms, the black woman yelled, "Right clear," signaling two other people to enter. This time Haruhi recognized one of them. He was the boy who sometimes offered beverages when they returned to the resort.

When he saw her, he gave her a smile and mouthed, "Don't worry," making her feel a little better.

A minute later, the first woman cleared the restroom and both woman relaxed their stances. "We apologize. Taka said this place was safe, but strangers could have infiltrated while he was away. Is this resort secure? We must know if anyone dangerous is on the premises or if anyone new has arrived."

Haruhi and the others weren't sure how to answer. They were still very scared, worried that as soon as the group learned the classmates were defenseless they may just shoot them all. When the woman's question was met with silence she continued, "Don't worry. We can protect you but only if you let us know of any potential threats."

Taka spoke up, "I think it's OK, Kenya. I didn't see any new vehicles outside. Hi guys, Kenya and Ari are friends. They are agents from a special disaster recovery division of the government, sent here to teach us how to survive now."

The two woman were smiling now as was the younger girl with them. Haruhi was so relieved, not just because the girls weren't a threat but because now there would finally be some authority to make sure things got done.

Hikaru looked over the strangers. He was still shaken but relieved now, and he was intrigued by both of the armed women. The one Taka called Kenya made the twin get lost in his mind, because was uniquely alluring with a very dark skin color he had only seen when his mother took him to the 10th annual Dakar Fashion Week in Senegal. Even more lovely than the color, was her skin's smooth, rich texture.

Hikaru estimated Kenya's height as putting her standing just between Kyoya and Tamaki's if lined up from shortest to tallest. Her build was slight and slender, but because the tight-fitted, black uniform she wore left little to the imagination, sexy curves were evident, particularly a taut, round bottom. The charming government agent's eyes, hair and eyebrows were the color of petroleum and her lips were kissable and full. If Hikaru was forced to think of anything more striking than the contrast between Kenya's skin tone and her perfect, white teeth, the only answer would be her amazing, high cheekbones. The dominate twin had seen gorgeous models from all over the world, but he couldn't help but think of Kenya as an ideal, like someone custom made her to be the most beautiful of her kind.

Hikaru found the other agent lovely as well, but she was not nearly as fascinating as Kenya. Ari's skin was pale but had a pinkish undertone. She had a curvy build and stood shorter than himself, probably around 5'7". Her deep-set, grey eyes with her long, dark eye lashes were her best feature while her straight, sloping nose, sporting just a hint of a hook at the tip gave her an interesting and cute look.

While everyone else seemed to be relieved, Kaoru was only getting more anxious. He wondered if Hikaru and Haruhi just didn't notice or if they had a reason for going along with the lie.

'Did they trust Ari and Kenya,' he asked himself silently, 'Haruhi has always been so observant, so how could she miss the Ootori group logos on the women's unitard-like uniforms. Since when has the Ootori's private police force been a government agency? Never.'

The kick to the doorknob alone should have told everyone that much. Kaoru wondered how everyone could be so unaware that anyone, particularly a woman shouldn't be able to pull off such a move. The one variable Kaoru was sure of was that these women were very dangerous, but he knew better than to tell them he knew. He would keep his mouth shut and tell only Haruhi and Hikaru, so they could come up with a plan together.

"Who's in charge?" Ari asked.

The class rep slowly stood up and faced the woman before replying, "I'm the class rep, Kazukiyo Soga. Technically it's me, but it's actually him," pointing to Haruhi.

Ari looked Haruhi up and down, intensely scrutinizing the boy-girl for just a few seconds before she smiled to herself and said, "**Him**?" motioning again towards Haruhi. The class rep nodded furiously while Haruhi shook her head slowly, a confused and apprehensive look on her face.

"OK Soga-San, please take Taka with you and inform the others who Kenya and I are. We don't want to scary anyone, and we don't want any opposition to the things that need to be done. Can you do that for us?" Ari asked warmly.

"Sure can!" He said running off with Taka to do as he was told.

Ari then asked to speak to Haruhi privately. Once they were alone in the restroom with the door shut, the older girl asked, "So do any of them know you're a girl?"

* * *

Renge sat in the backseat of the car, spreading peanut butter on crackers for herself and her two traveling companions. They had been on the road for nearly two weeks now, but there was no need to rush. Speeding just wasted gasoline.

The roads were littered with cars that were either empty or occupied by dead bodies. Initially, the sight and smell of a corpse had made Renge faint. Tamaki didn't take the experience much better. Only Kyoya seemed unaffected. He seemed to be treating this trek as some sort of challenge, stopping to scavenge the nearby cars for anything useful every so often. Every night, they slept in a different house. The trick was to find a home with at least two beds no one had died on, so they could all sleep comfortably.

Kyoya insisted on dragging the bodies outside so they could be burned before the group left. He says it was the least they can do to repay their hosts for their hospitality. He had taken to doing it with the cars too. When they ran out of gas the first time, the boys had siphoned some from another car, but Tamaki was so useless he had nearly poisoned himself. The next time Kyoya decided it was just easier to find a car with plenty of gas, burn any occupants and relocate. Renge was not sure she agreed at first. She was more use to the dead bodies now, but the smell of them burning still made her wretch. Now they always waited until just before leaving to light them.

"Lunch is ready. Did you find anything to drink?" Renege called out to Kyoya and Tamaki.

Tamaki raised up a half-full, two-litter bottle of soda. Kyoya had also found some bottled water, a canister of almonds, a switchblade and a green hair bow for Renge. "It was on a doll, not a corpse," the handsome brunette said as he handed the girl her knew accessory.

Kyoya had never been particularly fond of Renge, but he had always respected her resourcefulness, initiative and drive. In the short amount of time the three of them had been forced to lean on one another, the young Ootori had come to appreciate having the lively girl around perhaps just as someone to help him look after Tamaki. Kyoya tried to make little gestures like the ribbon to keep up her morale. Frankly, at this point, with his own morale b b? bb m, m. M, ' m m. M. Mm. M. only getting lower, Kyoya would welcome some of his best friend's lighthearted tomfoolery. Tamaki hadn't been the same since watching his father, grandmother and Shima die, but the strong and stoic brunette desperately needed his friend's support to get him through the plight their existence had become. Every so often, Kyoya would get a hint of the old Tamaki, a smile, a glint in his eyes or a ridiculous comment, but it faded all too fast. The young man closed his eyes and silently said, "Come back to me, Daddy."

Tamaki found a roll of paper towels and grabbed it before heading back to the car to eat with his friends. He was actually hungry now which hadn't happened often since The Long Night. Since then he had been broken. All he ever wanted was a family. Now they were all dead. His mother might still be alive in France, but regardless, he would never get to see her again. He would likely never see Haruhi or the twins either. The three had gone to a class 1A school trip together shortly before The Long Night and had been quarantined from returning. At this point, Tamaki wasn't even sure where they were, and even if he could find them, getting to them would likely be impossible. At least he still had Kyoya, and even Renge had provided some comfort. Tamaki had taken to fooling around with her at night. Nothing too serious happened, just some kissing and a few pets here and there but mostly cuddling, and it was the cuddling Tamaki really needed. He guessed Renge did too, because she never refused. Once the sun was up, neither of them ever acknowledged anything had happened other than two friends consoling one another. Tamaki wondered how Kyoya could be so strong. His friend just kept going, solving any problems the threesome had and taking on any task necessary. Tamaki admired Kyoya greatly for laying the souls of so many to rest as well as for all of his resolve to look after Renge.

"Thank you," Renge smiled at the boy she once thought she loved as she took the ribbon, "Will you help me?"

Kyoya nodded before removing Renge's pink bow and replacing it with the green. "Hmmm, it suites you, beautiful, young lady," Tamaki said with the tiniest of smiles. Kyoya swallowed a lump in his throat and fought back tears, hearing a little bit of the old Tamaki seeping through a tiny crack in the handsome blonde's depression.

The three sat quietly eating pre-packaged fruit cups and the peanut butter crackers Renge had prepared. Mandarin oranges were Tamaki's favorite, but his expression seemed far away and haunted as he chewed his food.

After they finished eating, the three young people packed all their supplies in the trunk of the vehicle with the exception of a bottle of hand sanitizer, a bottle of lighter fluid and a book of matches. Kyoya had already drug the bodies from the other cars to a dusty space about 10 feet from the road. Tamaki said a prayer in French while Renge sprayed a steady stream of lighter fluid over the bodies and made a flammable circle around them. The three stood back, and Kyoya threw the lit match. Sometimes additional matches were needed, but it took the first time today. Tamaki remarked it had been a sign of good luck. He was wrong.

As the three were turning to leave, they spotted another vehicle headed towards them. Kyoya continued towards the cars, but instead of going to the one the threesome had been traveling in, he stood by one of the cars he had just rid of its lifeless occupants, hiding the keys to his own car in the backseat. They'd met a few people on the road here and there who were traveling to meet up with relatives they "had a feeling" were still alive. Kyoya and his traveling companions used the same type of cover story. They always said they were headed south to meet up with his sister and her husband who left a few days ahead of them. Thus far everyone they met had all been good people who they ended up sharing a drink or meal with before parting ways. Kyoya hoped the current situation would bode so well, but he knew to always prepare for the worse.

Tamaki and Renge waved at the approaching vehicle. The young blonde noted there were three young men in the truck. They were likely out scavenging since the truck was already loaded with a few "found" items. When the youngest of the three men saw the two, he pointed them out to the other two, and they drove up, breaks squealing as they stopped a short distance from the young couple.

The driver put his truck in park, rolled down his window and asked, "Do you two need some help? Are you all alone?"

"No, we're fine," Renge answered, "and yes, it's just us," not realizing Kyoya was not right behind them anymore.

As soon as the young girl admitted they were alone, all three of the men jumped out of the vehicle and approached them. Kyoya's blood ran cold. He immediately knew something has wrong. He reached in his vest pocket and touched the stun gun he had taken with him, slowly backing up behind the car and stooping to crawl through them towards his friends.

"Are you two married or just playing house?" the oldest of the three, a large, stocky man with huge hands and knuckles, asked with a lurid look in his dark black eyes before laughing loudly. The other two men laughed as well. Tamaki tried not to let his body language show his awareness of the danger facing Renge and himself. Mentally, the worried blonde estimated the oldest man at about twenty-years-old. Tamaki thought the man was at least an inch shorter than himself, but the stranger still outweighed him by a good twenty pounds. Considering the weight difference and the size of the meat-cleavers the man called hands, Tamaki knew he couldn't take him alone. Perhaps he and Kyoya together could, but there were still two more.

The youngest of the three, a skinny boy no older than thirteen or fourteen, could easily be subdued, maybe even by Renge. The wild card was thug number three. He was likely the younger man's older brother. Perhaps they were all brothers. Tamaki estimated number three to be the tallest at about 5'10" tall. With the exception of Tamaki's beauty, these two were evenly matched, being very close in age and size. Tamaki still thought he could take him if he and Kyoya could subdue the larger man.

"We're not married or playing house," Renge spoke without thinking.

The young boy raised his eyebrows and smiled lustfully, "How would you like to play house with us for a little while, Sweet Thing?"

"Sweet? You obviously have the wrong girl," Renge spat still not seeming to understand her precarious position.

Moving on her quickly, taking her around the waist and twisting her arm behind her back, the boy laughed, "Well, I have just the thing to sweeten you up, and I think I'll tenderize you some too."

Renege brought up her free arm and crashed her elbow in the boy's ribs, making him howl, "Bitch! You will pay for that!" as he continued to fight with the feisty young lady. The other two men offered the boy no help, laughing and teasing him with no restraint.

Tamaki saw Kyoya crouching behind the fire while waiting for the right moment to strike. He knew his friend had the stun gun. Now would be the time to distract the two other thugs.

"Let her go!" Tamaki shouted, rushing in and punching the boy hard, the cracking of his cheek bone was audible. As the boy screamed and released Renge, the other two thugs descended on the handsome blonde. Tamaki managed to get two good punches to the ribs and a knee to the gut of the boy who was his even match before the larger, older man wrapped his arms around Tamaki, trapping him in a bear hug. Tamaki used being restrained to his advantage by picking up both feet and slamming them hard into his opponent's chest, making the teenager of his same size fall backwards. Then the blonde brought his head back hard, crashing it against the big man's nose with a loud crack, making the man wail and let go of his captive. Kyoya had made his way right behind the big guy, and the minute Tamaki was free, his best friend used the stun gun. The older man fell quickly to the ground. Kyoya looked over to see Tamaki stomping the hell out of the man closest his size.

"Let's go!" Kyoya shouted, but then he heard her scream.

Both former, high school hosts turned to see the youngest attacker holding Renge down by her hair. Her face was pushed to the ground, and there was a knife to her throat. "Make another move, and I will end this little bitch!" the evil adolescent screamed.

Kyoya and Tamaki froze, unsure of what to do. Kyoya quickly formulated a plan, but it was too late. The brunette, cool-type had not realized how quickly a person would recover from being stunned, so he now found himself tumbling to the ground after having his foot yanked from under him by the man he previously laid out on the ground. Kyoya pushed his hands in front of him to break his fall. It saved his glasses but not much else. The larger man wrestled the stun gun from him, using it first on Kyoya and then on Tamaki.

Kyoya's hands were quickly bound with duct tape as were his feet. Tamaki's hands were bound, but his feet were left free which struck Kyoya as odd initially. The young Ootori held back his tears as he always had, now forced to listened to Renge's screams and cries. He wished he had been able to save her. Now he wasn't even sure if any of them would live to see dawn.

The youngest thug had already cut Renge's pants from crotch to waistband before Kyoya or Tamaki had even seen the knife. The former hosts were purposely left where they would have to watch if they opened their eyes. Neither of them cracked a lid as the youngest forced himself on Renge. Tamaki could not hold back the tears as he heard his cuddle buddy's screams. The disheartened blonde was sobbing steadily by the time he heard Renge's attacker yell out to signal his release.

"My turn," the oldest laughed! "You get third place tonight Yutta."

Yutta replied, "I have other plans, but I need you to help me out a second. The pretty boy knocked me around pretty good, so now I get to teach him who's boss!"

The oldest thug laughed loudly, "Hold her until I get to her, little man." Reaching down, he grabbed Tamaki by his hair and collar before he yanked him off the ground, leaving him balancing on his knees. Tamaki struggled against his restraints while his even match unbuckled the terrified blonde's pants, roughly pulling his underwear down with them as he yanked them down his thighs.

"No! Don't you dare!" Tamaki thrashed around trying to kick with his free legs. The older thug easily subdued him by using the stun gun before slamming him on his stomach on the ground. The blonde teenager was still twitching from the shock when his attacker took him.

Kyoya laid on the ground wishing he was struck deaf while Tamaki screamed. Renge had stopped screaming and was sobbing uncontrollably as the oldest man attacked her. Tamaki never stopped screaming, mostly in French. Kyoya had been strong since the beginning. He never let anything, no matter how much it bothered him, compromise his composure. Now he lay silently with his eyes clamped shut, tears flowing like a raging storm of acid rain. The pain of the young brunette's best friend and the smell of burning flesh hung all around him, choking him and burning his skin. No one, not even his father, had ever made Kyoya feel so utterly helpless. It seemed like an eternity before the screaming stopped.

Kyoya felt the man on top of him. He knew it was his turn now. He heard voices, Renge's screams, a door slam and the sound of an engine turning over before the truck sped away. His eyes still clamped shut, Kyoya clung tightly to the pitch darkness. With the exception of the sound of sobbing and the distant crackling of the fire, there was silence. Finally he realized the young man huddled so close to him was Tamaki.

* * *

The 6'3" kendo expert became serious, rushing over to his charge and peering over the counter. "Hurt?" was all Mori managed to mumble, seeing the girl with her back pushed up to the wall just behind the counter.

Without warning Mori began to feel strange, and for a second, he feared he was coming down with the Red Death. The martial arts master's entire body felt as if his temperature had risen 100 degrees in the past few seconds, manifesting in a deep scarlet flush across his face and a thin layer of perspiration coating his palms. A lump in his throat threatened to choke him to death, and his tongue felt as if someone had shoved an entire ShamWow in his mouth. All of the foreign sensations coming together made him feel dizzy, and his treacherous heart - it was the worst, betraying his fervor with a pounding sure to alert even Isuma who was stationed outside.

The girl still hadn't spoke, but Mori decided someone like her never needed to say a word. After what seemed like hours of her glacier blue eyes holding him captive, she finally pushed her back flat against the wall and slowly used her legs to push herself upright until she stood straight on her feet. No one could have missed the hitch in Takashi Morinuzuka's breath when he took in the 6'1", Scandinavian goddess's full presentation. Proportionally, the woman's legs were every bit as long as his. Her svelte body was molded exquisitely by her tight, black pants and a black tank top that seemed painted across her chest. 'This is Japan...where the hell did someone like her come from?' his mind demanded.

The 6'3" Mori was never a conversationalist, but currently he couldn't speak even if he tried. He had never seen anyone who looked like her at least not in person. Even the legendary good looks of Suoh Tamaki paled in comparison. Mori imagined himself running his hand through her hair to grab a handful of her platinum-blonde locks, using them to tilt her head back slightly and hold her still as he pulled her into a rough, urgent kiss.

Her skin had a sun-kissed tone, and for someone so thin, she had the largest breasts he thought her body could physically hold. The girl pursed her full, tawny-colored lips, pressing them together tightly as her eyes brushed over Takashi's own mouth. 'Did she want him too,' he wondered.

The young man didn't even feel awkward gawking at the beautiful lady, because she was matching his stare. He felt two pools of crystal-ice searching all over his body and stripping him naked, but to his surprise, he wasn't embarrassed. The sensation made him feel a primal zest for life, lust and love.

Osamu was becoming very uncomfortable with the way his sensei and the glamazon were transfixed on one another, each eyeing the other like a lion eyes a gazelle. "Are either of you going to say something?!" Mori's student heatedly demanded.

Mori turned his head only about half an inch toward his companion, his gaze never fully leaving the woman as he replied, "Osamu, go outside...wait." The younger teenager gladly hightailed it out of the store and took his place beside his brother as a second watchman.

With a ninja's grace, Mori leaped across the counter while the blonde proved she had the same idea, wrapping her fingers around the waist of her top and pulling it off over her head. Although she still hadn't spoken a word, the blonde extended her leg to help Takashi when he knelt in front of her and began to remove her knee-high black boots.

Without her boots, the girl stood only 5'11", still taller than any woman Takashi had ever touched. The girl and Mori shared a similar mind-set. Taking a page from his yet unrevealed playbook, she ran her long fingers across the top of his head and securing a handful of his spiky hair before encouraging him to stand by forcefully tugging him upwards.

Mori quickly complied, springing into a standing stance and fulfilling his previous fantasy of pulling the platinum bombshell into an urgent kiss. Her lips tasted like paradise as he relentlessly pushed into the kiss, pressing his chest against her exposed breasts. The blonde's tongue took the lead, waltzing across the opening of the sexy giant's mouth before pushing through and challenging his own tongue to subdue hers. Mori's tongue attempted to engage her in a wrestling match, but the sensual woman's strategy of using her mouth as a gentle vacuum to capture his evasive tongue allowed her to suck her way to victory.

Wood hardened to rock with a palpable throbbing, but Takashi refused to rush, grabbing one of his new lover's heaving bosoms in each hand and kneading them, gently at first but then hard enough to enlist a loud moan. His lover's boldness heightened Mori's arousal tremendously. Mori always found the timid, blushing behavior as well as all of the uncalled for squeeing exhibited by his host club clients a complete bone killer. He had always wanted a passionate woman who made love to him as if she wanted to eat him alive, and his fantasy was now a fast-paced reality.

His blonde beauty was panting and moaning with lust as her hands pawed his body, ripping his shirt open and yanking it off his ripped torso. Her nails drug roughly across his chest and back before her hands settled on his bottom, kneading the tight gluteal muscles in a matching rhythm and intensity to Mori's handling of her breasts.  
Takashi slid a hand down his lady's taut stomach, slipping under the stretchy waistband of her pants. Finding no cloth barrier to keep his hand from caressing the smooth, hairless flesh between her legs, he repositioned his other hand in her hair, pulling out of the carnal trance in which her tongue held his. She let out a lusty snarl, eyes dancing across his face to demand an explanation for the interruption of her efforts to steal the very oxygen from his lungs. Excuses became unnecessary as Mori's twinkling eyes and and upwardly curving lips showed his approval of his minx's lack of undergarments while his long index finger traced a panty shaped outline along where the edges of such a garment would normally fall. The elongated digit soon found its place at his lover's entrance before drowning in the hot springs if found inside.

The abundance of wet warmth telling him Blondie was more than good-to-go, Takashi let loose his own primal groan, eyes stilled and teeth clenched. Realizing he could take no more, he wrapped his muscular arm tightly around her small waist, pushing his body against hers and lifting her about an inch off the floor while his free hand yanked her pants down. His anxious lady brought her legs up one at a time to meet his hand, allowing him to slip the pants completely off of her, while she unbuckled his belt and gave it a harsh tug before unfastening his pants and letting them fall to the floor.

Mori's feet were encumbered by the pants resting across his feet, but it didn't matter because for the first time in is life, he was with a woman tall enough for him to take standing upright. He had never been more turned-on, thrilled to have found his perfect sexual match in both proportion and passion. Bending his knees slightly to position his stiff rod against her dripping folds, Takashi thrust deeply into her.

Eden hadn't expected this to happen when she ran out of the Ootori estate, leaving her brothers, Rush and Pan to finish their task without her. She'd taken a vehicle and just drove, not knowing where she was going but planning to return to her brothers when she was reasonably sure the horror was over. She'd only wanted some wine to calm herself when she'd stopped near the store. Eden hadn't planned to sit on the floor behind the counter and guzzle half the bottle either, and she certainly didn't expect anyone to happen upon her given the severe reduction in the amount of people nearby.

Her body reacted to the testosterone the moment the two men entered the store, emitting her special scent and pheromones. Eden was built for carnal pleasure, a perfect attractor-infiltrator combination, adept at corporate espionage among other things. Dr. Ootori believed an evening with her was the perfect gift for the client or business associate who had everything.

The blonde knew her looks were important and maintained them well, but she was also well aware that her looks weren't the reason men found her so irresistible. Her body involuntarily knocked anyone with testosterone over the head with a ton of bricks. As soon as she smelled a manly scent, her skin began to release three hundred times the pheromones emitted by the average woman. The only hint to the men around her is an invasive sweet smell. They don't even know why they feel they are suddenly in such a great mood.

The pheromones got a man's attention, but the rest was up to her, and she always knew exactly what to do. Her empathic skills were pathetic next to her sisters', but she could easily glean exactly what a man desired down to the smallest detail. She simply modified her responses based on his desires. She could talk intelligently about anything from stock options to screen plays, thanks to her carefully concealed data port, and whether her target wanted a shy, demure woman who covered her mouth when she giggled or a vicious sadist who would whip him mercilessly, Eden was that woman.

What was happening to the young, blonde now was different. She hadn't been assigned a target. She didn't feel threatened, so she wasn't using her skills for self-preservation. For once in her life, Eden had the luxury of allowing her body to react to her own desires. Her ideal lover had materialize in front of her without warning, quickly able to red him, she realized she'd found a man who's desires matched her own.

While admiring the man who's body made Michelangelo's David look average, the sheer ferocity of their mutual attraction had threatened to weaken Eden's knees. When her lover's pants dropped to the floor, Eden glanced down and got the biggest surprise of day. Never in her life would she have expected to see something so gargantuan. She was no virgin, but she wondered if his member was even going to fit in her. Eden even felt a little afraid that he'd rip her, but her fears were pleasantly thrusted away when the huge shaft slid inside, gripping the wet and sticky, inner walls of her womanhood. Now the eighteen-year-old was impaled up against the wall with one leg wrapped around the object to her fevered desire and the other firmly anchored to the floor.

The tall blonde had literally growled like a beast in heat when her lover entered her, and he currently he had her moaning and panting like an animal laboring to bring forth a child but without the pain. She revealed in the feel of being tightly packed and filled to the brim with a man she intended to make hers, body and soul.

With every passionate thrust, her lover lost a little more of his sensibility. Eden's body was on fire with pleasure, lust and the rapid approach of ecstasy. Frankly, the blonde was surprised but delighted by her lover's stamina. He pounded her into the wall with a nearly unimaginable velocity that would cause a lesser man's endeavors to be all too brief.

Having her on the brink, he finally spoke, "Say Takashi." Eden began saying her lovers name in a whisper, amping the volume up a hair with each deep, hard thrust. At the end of her endurance, Eden held on tight to Mori's shoulders and lifted the leg she had been using for balance, quickly wrapping it around Takashi waist and over his hip. Her skilled lover adjusted without missing a stroke, placing his hands on her bottom to hold her and intensely pressing his fingers into the fleshy cheeks.

Eden catered to her lover's ego, placing her mouth by his ear, licking the shell and whispering, "Takashi, you are a man above all other men."

Hearing her statement, Mori let out a deep, guttural grow before kicking up the speed of his thrusts to a level he previously hadn't thought possible. "You say Eden!" she screamed as he drove into her forcefully.

"Eden...aha...EEEden," he snarled pushing her over the edge as her entire body clenched and all muscles contracted.

"Taaaaakashi!" She shrieked pushing him to his end. The stud pushed deep into her and allowed himself release.

* * *

Meri had finished her yoga and gymnastics. She always had something to eat before she started fight training, but she needed to take care of something first. Meri knew Chi was still napping, so as quiet as a grave, she entered the control room and turned off the surveillance cameras before heading towards the quarantine confinement cell. Turning on the intercom, the slender, blonde fifteen-year-old whispered, "Get ready and be quick. If she finds out, you're screwed, not me."

A raspy, dry voice tried to speak, "Iiii...iii...neeeeddd..."

Meri cut her off, "Oh, don't you talk to me, Bitch! I don't know why China won't just let me kill you!" Meri snaked around the corner and pressed a few buttons, releasing one ration of food and two rations of water. She knew they were suppose to be punishing Mother for all she had done to them as well as to their brothers and sisters, but starving someone seemed so cowardly to Meri. The little, brown-eyed blonde wanted a gladiator-style fight to the death with the woman, but Chi wouldn't hear of it.

The young girl remembered her sister's insistence, "You'd easily disarm and kill her, so would Manny or Rush and maybe even Kenya. Don't all of our brothers and sisters deserve some justice? A quick, honorable death is much too good for Mother! How many nights did you lie awake in bed, crying and wishing for death? Would you so easily give her something she made you beg for but withheld!"

Meri understood the truth in what Chi said, and it wasn't that she didn't have the stomach for torture. If vital information was needed, she would peel that woman like an onion, but there was just no benefit in torturing Mother anymore. The fact of the matter was, Meri had already gotten every possible pound of flesh the bitch had to give. The little lady was well aware she had gotten nowhere near as many pounds as what her siblings were owed, but there was just no more to be had.

'Beating a half-dead corpse is stupid, sickening and a waste of energy. Starving her is disgusting and low, and withholding water was more of the same,' Meri shook her head with disgust.

She was done with it. Meri decided she would feed the bitch if she pleased. There was nothing her sister could or would for that matter do to stop her, but Meri didn't care to be bothered with a confrontation or argument, so she kept her actions a secret.

The youngest daughter sighed before flipping off the intercom. She left the area and headed to the control room to put the surveillance cameras back online. As she opened the door, she saw her tiny, brunette sister sitting in a chair in front of the monitors. Meri took a deep breath as Chi spun around in her chair to face her. The younger sister pursed her lips together as she peered at the smaller girl. Walking toward Chi, Meri dropped to her knees in front of her chair, wiping the Asian beauty's tears away with her finger tips before laying her head gently in her sister's lap. The brunette ran her fingers through her baby sister's hair, stroking it lovingly.

"You're mad at me?" Meri asked.

"No, just disappointed," Chi sighed.


	3. Broken World

**Author's Note**: I do not own Ouran High School Host Club nor am I affiliated with them in any way.

**Content Note**: Mature for violence, language and sexual content and very dark themes. Not for the faint of heart.

* * *

Kyoya drove in the direction of the coordinates. They were so close now. In fact, if he had realized how close they had been, the young man probably would have never made the last, ill-fated stop. The events of earlier in the day would haunt him for the rest of his life, and he could only imagine what the bitter memories would do to Tamaki and Renge. Kyoya's heart felt sick when he thought of the young girl and what those three bastards were likely doing to her, but his immediate attention was reserved for his best friend.

"Are you OK?" Kyoya asked.

"OK? No, It would take me about 1000 light years just to get back to merely fucked up. That's how far I am from OK," the blonde replied weakly. It was the second sentence Tamaki uttered since the attack.

Tamaki was curled up on his side in the backseat of the car. His face was blank and pale, and his eyes were vacant. Kyoya remembered his friend's frantic actions shortly after the thugs drove off with Renge. The crazed, young man's legs were still free, so he walked back to the cars sitting abandoned on the road and found one with a broken window. Sitting on the ground in front of the glass shards, Tamaki was able to pick up a large, jagged piece. It took perseverance to saw through the thickly wound wrist bindings, but in time he was able to free his hands from behind his back.

Before freeing himself, Tamaki already had busted knuckles and other small lacerations on his hands from the fight, but those were hardly noticeable in the presence of the huge, blood gushing gash between the thumb and index finger of his right hand.

Tamaki had been so repulsed, he felt his skin crawling. Once he was able to undress, the blonde stripped away all of his clothing and threw them on the smoldering embers of the burning corpses. After retrieving some clothing from a suitcase in an abandoned car and dressing himself, Tamaki returned to free his friend. The young man was dazed. He had been working on autopilot, pumping adrenaline like a race car spends gasoline.

Once Kyoya was free and on his feet, Tamaki begged, "Please get me out of here right now," before promptly passing out. Luckily, the youngest Ootori had been able to break his friend's fall, putting Tamaki over his shoulder to carry him back to the car with relative ease. The raven-haired boy had always been much stronger than he looked.

Now Kyoya felt incredibly ashamed. The young Ootori hated to see his friend suffering, and he knew in his head that there was nothing he could have done to change what had happened. Still, in his heart, he felt guilty for being relieved the thugs hadn't sexually assaulted him too.

"We will get her back, Tamaki," Kyoya said firmly.

Tamaki let out a cynical laugh that shook the brunette boy to his core. "Sure we will just as soon as we get my dignity back," the blonde scoffed coldly.

For the second time in less than an hour, Kyoya was silently crying. Tamaki was the one person he knew who could take dog crap and turn it into rainbows and roses. Seeing his friend in his current state was nearly sucking every tiny drop of hope from the third Ootori son's soul.

"We're almost there. Dreama will help us get Renge back, Tamaki, and I'll help you find your dignity. We'll get through this together," Kyoya choked back a sob and did his best to hold it together. Tamaki remained silent.

* * *

Mori sat up in bed with his legs criss crossed, a rumpled sheet twisted around his waist and the upper portion of his limbs. His hair clung to the perspiration on his forehead as he panted and eyed his lady. Eden's enticing nude form was laid back in front of him while she propped up on her elbows. The statuesque blonde's left leg was bend at the knee and propped up by her foot on the mattress while her right leg was in the air only high enough to allow her to extended it over Mori's lap. She teasingly ran her toes up the left side of his torso, offering a teasing eye full of her wide spread legs.

"Insatiable," Takashi said, still laboring to catch his breath.

"Insatiable? You are," Eden flashed a sexy smile. Takashi was somewhat amused by how much his lover's conversation frugalness matched his own.

"I meant me," he replied, pushing her back down on the bed by her shoulders for another go and eliciting an excited giggle from his tall blonde.

Within seconds her face went serious, "Your weapon, East quadrant!"

Mori looked at her incredulously, but she was already pushing him off of her and throwing him his pants. "Hostiles! Go now," she said, pulling her top over her head, yanking her pants on and snapping her gun holster around her waist before bolting out the door.

Takashi only had time to pull on his pants. Grabbing his sword, he gave chase, but even with his long legs, he was still a few paces behind her. Passing a young boy, Mori yelled, "Sound the alarm," causing the boy to run in the direction of a siren Honey had rigged as a warning.

Three other young men joined the couple's sprint while Honey led a couple of others out another way to double back and come up behind the enemy. Takashi didn't have time to be shocked as Eden shimmed up a nearby tree and perched on a limp, pulling her gun to provide cover for Honey's group. She raised her free hand holding up five fingers and then one finger to signify six intruders.

"Identify yourselves," Takashi called out only to be answered with gun power. Mori and the others took cover while Eden shot an intruder in the hand, making him drop his gun and scream in pain. Quickly getting off two more shots, she hit one intruder in the shoulder of his gun arm and the second in his forearm. Before the other's could react, Honey's team charged them from behind. With three unable to wield their weapons, the enemy group was easy to disarm and capture, especially once Takashi's group jumped in the fray.

Honey held an intruder's gun as if it were a snake, but luckily, his men were less apprehensive about the use of fire arms. Eden stayed out of sight in the trees, watching and providing cover as Honey and Takashi got their enemies on their knees with their hands on their heads.

Realizing he hadn't heard Eden or her gun in a few minutes, Mori frantically called out to her. "I'm OK!" she replied, "A suggestion?"

Takashi looked to Honey who nodded approval before replying, "Yes."

"Duct tape, blindfolds and separate cells," Eden called out from her perch, her appearance obscured by the foliage.

Honey nodded with approval again, motioning for one of the other men to go get the necessary items as he said, "Good shooting, Eda-chan."

Making her way down the tree to the tiny powerhouse she replied, "Not really, I was aiming for hearts and heads," earning a shocked look from her newly acquired lover and his small cousin.

* * *

The brown-eyed brunette couldn't say she was happy, but she was busy and less stressed now that Kenya, Ari and India, or the Triad as people had taken to calling them, had taken the reigns. When Kaoru warned Haruhi and Hikaru of his suspicions about the women claiming to be government agents, Haruhi said Ari had already admitted the truth in private. They were just survivalist who had worked for the Ootori group. The little cross-dresser assumed Kyoya or someone from his family sent them to help, but Ari wouldn't confirm or deny it.

The Triad insisted everyone participate in group morning exercise. Kenya wanted everyone to get stronger in order to survive, and the exercises were also a good way to get everyone up and ready to work.

As the exercises came to a close, Haruhi took her place at her work station. They boyish brunette was assigned to be Ari's assistant and liaison, a very challenging position requiring someone able to keep her cool during stressful situations. No one got to speak to the leader of the Triad without going through her.

One of Haruhi's most important responsibilities was listening and responding to concerns, requests, grievances and suggestions from any one living in The Triad's territory. Many of the issues, she could handle on her own such as people needing to know where to get clean towels or directing people to where they could obtain services or necessary equipment such as medical attention or work gloves.

Both Haruhi and the twins had been delighted when The Triad instituted a work for food rule, because all three of them felt they were having to pick up a lot of slack for classmates who had no motivation to do anything. The rule was a fair and simple concept; everyone had to work, or they didn't get to eat.

India had been tasked with determining everyone's skills and assigning people to proper work details as well and determining who would serve as team leaders. Kaoru had been assessed as a domestic and was made the leader of the clothing management team. His team was responsible for washing and mending clothing, repairing shoes and teaching others to sew. As team leader Kaoru made the out the work schedule and supervised his team members' work performance and schedule compliance.

Kaoru liked to get his schedules turned in to Haruhi for approval early, so he and Hikaru approached her desk right after morning exercises. Three others approached at the same time, so she assigned them numbers. Kaoru had been first.

"Good Morning, Haruhi," the twins said in unison!

Here is my daily schedule for each of my seven," the less dominate twin said as he handed Haruhi a sheet of paper.

The brunette placed the paper in her inbox and asked, "Any issues yesterday with work compliance or performance?"

"Nope, everyone towed the line for the entire day with no one having to be released to sick call," Kaoru answered proudly.

"Great!" Haruhi replied as she pulled his approved schedule from the day before and added each team member's name to the meal sheet for the following day. As she scribed the names, the brown-eyed girl checked the appropriate boxes to indicate all three meals and two snack rations had been earned. "I'll get your schedule for tomorrow approved within a few hours and let you know if their are any issues or reassignments. Oh, and you have four people signed up for your sewing class this afternoon. Please let me know if there are any no shows."

"Absolutely Boss!" Kaoru replied as both twins gave a salute.

"Are we going to play cards tonight, Haruhi," Hikaru asked?

"Looking forward to it, and I scheduled my lunch period so we can eat together too," she gave both boys a bright smile.

"See you then!" They replied, running off together.

Haruhi knew Hikaru had the day off, but she also knew he wouldn't relax. The leader of the twin's twosome was scurrying off to spend much of his day working overtime in laundry, so he could be with his brother. He always got the four hours maximum overtime and the corresponding perks, usually extra snacks but sometimes privileges such as organized outings to going skiing or another fun activity.

As the twins left, Haruhi had to deal with her first grievance of the day. Ayame Tanaka was upset because she had been assigned to the kitchen team because her family had owned a string of restaurants. Ayame said the assignment was unfair because she had never worked in any of the restaurants or stepped foot in the kitchen.

"I was in the gardening club. I should be assigned to the horticulture team!" She whined. Haruhi wanted to sigh and worked hard not to roll her eyes. The kitchen team was the least popular assignment. Most of the students considered it 'dirty commoner work', but the kitchen had to be manned.

"We don't have a horticulture team yet, Ayame, and I don't know if we ever will. Eventually we will have a farming team and a hydroponics team, but we have neither right now," Haruhi explained.

"Well, someone has to be assigned to help set things up to get the team started. Can I do that," the spoiled, privileged girl whined near tears.

"Right now we need you in the kitchen, but I as soon as we get a new citizen, I will assign them to the kitchen, provided they possess no specialized, useful skill and put in a transfer request to join the hydroponics team when it is added. India won't approve a transfer until we get someone else to take your spot in the kitchen so it's the best I can do."

"Thank you! Thank you! Thank you, Haruhi! How long to you think it will take," Ayame asked.

Haruhi placed her hands behind her back and held them tight to keep from face palming. "Hopefully, not too long. The security time is expanding patrols outward, and there are a lot of houses to search and savage. The are likely to find some people who will join out little village, and Ari is anxious to work on getting us fresh food that isn't preserved in a can. I image she will start setting up a hydroponics lab as soon as possible."

Ayame continued to thank Haruhi profusely. She seemed very excited.

"Wait Ayame, I have to ask you a few things before I can submit a transfer request. How are you at chemistry?"

"Pretty good. I got a B+ in chem class," she replied.

Haruhi scribbled some notes before replying, "I hope you realize set-up will likely require a lot of scavenging and some manual labor. Are you going to be up to it?"

Ayame looked down at her feet, showing a less than confident expression. She hadn't thought about some of the logistics. After a few seconds of contemplation, she gave her answer, "Yes! I think I can do it."

"OK, I'll put in the transfer request, but I hope you know if your performance is substandard, the team leader will have you reassigned," Haruhi cautioned.

"I understand. I won't let you down," Ayame insisted with a smile, winning some respect from Haruhi for being willing to do some hard work. The short-haired brunette, returned Ayame's smile but admonished, "Hurry to the kitchen now. You don't want to get docked one of your snacks."

As the girl scurried off, Haruhi waved to her assistant, Kazukiyo Soga as he reported for his work shift. The brown-eyed girl was happy to have the help. Soga had great organization skills and as long as there was nothing around to scare him, he could handle anything she asked him to do.

Ayame had taken up a lot of her time and put Haruhi behind scheduled. Recognizing the need to free up Haruhi to perform important administrative duties, Kazukiyo stepped in to handle the rest of the petitioners.

The girl pretending to be a boy often thought about how lucky she was to have Soga working under her. She had complete confidence in him to run things on her day off or anytime she had to be away from their work area.

Actually, Haruhi was surprised she was chosen over Soga as Ari's assistant. He had far more leadership experience than her. The small number of males in leadership positions had not gone unnoticed by the little, brunette girl either. In fact Kaoru was the only real male team leader, and due to his specialized skills and experience with sewing and clothing care, it would have looked very odd to the citizens if he had not been chosen.

Haruhi suspected she beat out Soga for the assistant position because of her gender, and it made here stomach hurt to think about it. It was against her core beliefs; gender shouldn't matter. Haruhi also felt used. Because everyone thought she was a boy, India could make it look as if two team leaders were males instead of just Kaoru, fooling the others into thinking selection had been fair.

Even though she didn't approve, she didn't want to reveal her theories to the others for a variety of reasons. Ari and India had both been very good to her, and even if they were working towards a female dominated government, Haruhi didn't want to betray them.

On a more selfish note, Haruhi had a lot to lose. If she was perceived to be a malcontent 'spreading rumors,' she would likely lose her job, and The Triad might even out her as a girl. If her secret was revealed, a lot of the girls might see her behavior as a betrayal and feel she had made a fool of them. The little cross-dresser just wanted to repay her debt and had never intended to hurt anyone, so Haruhi decided she would keep quiet at least for now.

* * *

Britta's long, red hair flickered around in the wind as she approached a compound that many would find intimidating. She wasn't particularly afraid. Manny, her partner and brother, was counting on her. Accompanied by one man to watch her back, Britta, would approach alone.

Manny thought Ari's ideas of a matriarchal society were stupid, so he decided he and Britta would go off on their own. The fair-skinned, blue-eyed beauty and her aryan featured brother took over a patch of territory with a decent amount of farm land and began collecting orphans to work it. Luckily, large numbers of teenagers who could be trained were scavenging around the city or cowering in their houses. Most kids were thrilled to find someone to look after them. A few kids were stubborn and refused to join with him. Manny was angry but determined the best course of action to take was to just wait and see if they changed their minds. Eventually, they would run out of food since he was securing everything they ran across. Then they would come to him.

Manny didn't ask Britta if she wanted to go with him when he decided to part ways with the others. In her brother's mind, there was never any question that She would follow him. Britta was his. As her partner, the young man had shared everything with her since birth.

All of the siblings had a partner who shared their terminal alcove during sleep periods. Their data ports would be hooked up and synced as whatever information Dr. Ootori intended for them to learn flooded their brains. As the onslaught of images, words, instructions and numbers assaulted Britta's brain, the only comfort available was the company of the sibling experiencing it with her. Their shared dream experiences created a tight bond.

Once the two learned about genetics and realized they were not blood related, Manny and Britta began sharing their bodies with each other as well. Unfortunately, Manny eventually turned his attentions elsewhere. Britta hadn't balked when he practically tossed her to their brother, Rush, like a hand-me-down sweater, but her heart still felt the sting of it. Just as suddenly as he had given her away, Manny returned, claiming her again after his advances began to be rebuffed by their sister, Meri, in favor of their brother Pan. Manny was too smart to try to come between Meri and what she wanted. She would have eaten him alive if he did anything to Pan, and Manny would have torn Rush to shreds if he put up a fight to keep Britta. Imitating the way of the wild, the pack leaders get first pick, so Britta belonged to Manny once again, and they reestablished their previous sexual relationship.

Manny was every bit as aggressive as her brothers, Egypt, Trail and Turk, who had been destroyed for their violent, aggressive and difficult to control behavior. The only difference was his intelligence and cunning. He had been smart enough to hide his proclivities rather than flaunt them as the others had.

Now Britta approached unfamiliar territory alone. Her well armed back-up was positioned as a snipper, watching through the scope of his far range weapon and ready to fire a kill shots if necessary. Britta carried only a small knife. She knew the drill: when you are strong and well prepared, appear weak. The pretty red-head approached her target in the guise of a small, defenseless woman in need of shelter. Intel indicated the cartel was heavily armed and well manned. Britta would case the location, assess the threat level and report back to Manny. Afterwards they would determine a plan for recruitment and possible take over. Securing the weapons was a must, but recruiting was preferable to robbery. Manny wanted more skilled men to add to his growing army.

Approaching the main gate, Britta took the straightforward approach and simply knocked, "Hello, is anyone here? I need help," she called out to anyone listening. She pretended not to see the set of eyes peering at her from a crack in the fence a few paces to her right.

"Stand back!" an almost feminine voice instructed. Britta complied readily. The gate sprung open and guns peeked out from both sides as she was motioned forward. A tall man with his blonde hair pulled up in a high ponytail stepped forward. A less observant person might have mistaken the man for a woman due to his girlish facial features, voice and hair. Britta immediately noticed his adams apple and the slight bulge in his jeans. As the man began to frisk her, she let out a squeal to make herself appear startled and frightened.

Finding her switchblade, "What's this?" He asked accusingly.

"I'm a woman traveling alone," is all she offered, looking pitiful. The man's expression softened, and he nodded sympathetically. 'Sucker,' Britta said only in her head.

"You aren't alone anymore," He consoled, "Are you hungry? What's your name?"

"I'm thirsty," Britta replied timidly before giving her name.

"Nice to meet you, Britta. I'm Tetsuya. Please follow me."

The yakuza had a reputation for being secretive, powerful and dangerous enough not to be taken lightly, so Britta was very surprised infiltration had been achieved so easily. Her plan to appear non-threatening seemed to work. However, it also seemed a little too easy, so she stayed on full alert. There was always a possibility she was only being granted entrance to the compound in order to for the men to surround and interrogate her.

Mentally, Britta carefully mapped out and committed to memory everyone and everything she saw, smelled or heard as she was lead through the syndicate. There was a good number of possible recruits, and resources were plentiful. Firepower was heavy, but there were nowhere near enough bodies to wield it all effectively. The compound was fortified, but Britta picked up on a number of weaknesses and security breaches.

After giving Britta a small cup of water, the tall blonde led her to a young man with copper-red hair a bit darker than her own strawberry locks. He looked unfriendly and angry with high eyebrows sloping down sharply towards the bridge of his nose. His eyes were regular-sized, but his olive and brown colored irises were very small, giving him a beady eyed look. He also appeared to have a permanent scowl across his face. An odd looking girl with bronze skin and heavy make-up sat next to him. Their posture indicated the girl was his, his lover or his thrall, perhaps both.

Tetsuya made introductions. The male was named Ritsu, and he was in charge. His woman was Mei. Britta noted many other men who appeared more seasoned and surmised the leadership role must be one that was passed down by blood.

Having scoped out the area and determined an exit strategy as well as a back-up plan, Britta felt comfortable enough to drop her babe in the woods act. Before waiting for anymore introductions, she announced, "I seek one called Umehito Nekozawa."

Ritsu looked the young woman over with both suspicion and curiosity before he motioned towards the shadows where a cloaked figure lurked. Just as the description indicated, he dressed in black and held a cat puppet.

"What business do you have with me? You seek a spell, perhaps?" He asked not moving from his place in the darkened corner.

"Greetings from Kirimi," Britta stated enigmatically, eliciting a gasp from the cloaked boy.

"Where is she?!" Nekozowa demanded.

* * *

"I apologize for being secretive, but I'm not sorry about what I did. I'm tired of dealing with her and ready to finish her," Meri said, "How much longer does this have to go on?"

"How about seven years? That's how many I had to do. You don't understand because you're still just a baby. You only had to do five years, and you were his pet!" Chi screeched, "You had it easier than the rest of us."

"I'm sure you are right. Being Dr. Ootori's rape victim of choice and earning our jealous Mother's ire was wonderful," Meri retorted.

Although still upset, Chi felt bad about what she said. Being forced into sex with that disgusting man had to be horrible, but having to feign loving him had to have been even worse. 'My poor baby,' she thought sadly.

"It's just too soon," Chi said solemnly, pressing the control to open the blind and illuminate Mother's cell.

Meri wanted to wretch. The once beautiful, young woman was beaten, bruised and broken. Most of her battering occurred before the girls' siblings had left the compound. They all got a piece of her. During those days, Mother had been kept in restraints. Now it wasn't necessary although Chi still placed her in them sometimes to hold her in uncomfortable positions. In the beginning when the older woman had still been healthy, Meri would sneak into the cell with her and remove her restraints, taunting the woman with the open door. "All you have to do is get past me," she goaded.

Mother actually tried to fight her a few times, earning the older woman broken ribs, black eyes and a plethora of other injuries. Dr. Ootori's healing technology was not in place when he created Mother many years earlier, but his first model had still been very strong, fast and well trained.

"OK, keep her caged as long as you like, but I won't help. You sing to her. You feed and water or don't feed and water her. You go in to that disgusting cell that smells like ass, and beat her when you want her hurt. You empty her slop bucket. You deal with all things Mother, because .Done," Meri replied coldly.

"Calm down, please," Chi wanted to sooth her baby sister.

No matter what Meri did or said, Chi could never hold a grudge against her. The brown-eyed blonde had become her partner after Trail's death. Their shared dream state alone was enough to build a strong love between the girls. However, Meri had been the siblings' baby. She was never an infant, but even as a wide-eyed ten(ish)-year-old, she was so darling and brand new. Everything was more beautiful and wondrous when experienced through the little girl's eyes. Everyone loved the baby, especially China.

The siblings protected Meri at all costs. They were determined that the cruelty of being locked in small, sweat boxes, sleep deprivation, and the water trials would never touch their little one. Until Meri's maturation cycle was completed, the siblings' environment was like a concentration camp, but when she grew up a little, they didn't have to protect her anymore. She was stronger than them and able to take any punishment sent her way.

Ironically, Meri never got a fraction on the physical punishments the other siblings endured. After her body matured and took on a woman's shape, Dr. Ootori provided the girl with a certain amount of protection. She was the Galatea to his Pygmalion. In the doctor's eyes Meri was his greatest accomplishment, special and far better than any of his previous creations, being the only physically and cognitively evolved model. Sadly, Dr. Ootori's ego far outweighed Meri's abilities. She had her strengths and relative weakness just all of the siblings did.

Now Meri was in the middle of one of her wild and unpredictable rants. The younger girl was far too aggressive and determined to ever let anything go until she had choked out every last bit of anger and frustration. Chi knew better than to cut off her little sister's tirade, but she needed to diffuse the situation. Living with Meri could felt like sleeping on a bed made of powder kegs, and it's hard to put out a fire once gasoline hits the flame.

If Meri's anger built up, anything could happen. Like most prototypes, her little sister turned out to be less than perfect, prone to emotional instability and dangerous behavior. Much to China's dismay, Meri sees herself as indestructible. The older girl worried her little sister's arrogance and inexperience would eventually get her blown up, sliced in half or something worse.

Meri continued to drop her words like an industrial cooler drops ice, "You can get her blood on your knuckles and clothes. You, and Eden may have enjoyed slapping Mother around while she was chained up, but it's beneath my dignity. It stopped being fun when the bitch stopped fighting back!"

"Meri, you know it was never about fun," Chi could barely get the lie out without choking on it. It was always suppose to be about justice for all the beatings, psychological tortures, and coerced atrocities, but Chi enjoyed getting some revenge.

Raising her eyebrows, Meri shook her head incredulously. The younger girl loved her older sister above all others, but sometimes China really pissed her off. Meri always felt as if her older sister was patronizing and placating her. The younger girl respected China's super genius IQ and ridiculously accurate empathic abilities; however, Meri felt her sister's arrogance caused her to be closed off from the possibility she might actually be wrong about something. China's also had a tendency to miss the mark with her interpretations of what she gleamed from the minds of others. Just because Rush was thinking about Eden naked didn't mean they had actually been having sex. She made a huge fool of herself with that assertion and pissed off Rush by outing his shower wanking fantasy.

"Don't make a fool of me. I know you were and still are getting off on Mother's misery. I get it. I despise her too. I just want to be done dealing with her. It's tedious, and I'm bored. We could make longer trips out if we didn't have to guard her. At least one of our siblings need to come back and guard her if the want her alive. I'm finished, and I'm not staying in this hole forever, China," Meri laid it down calmly, her eyes never leaving her sister's gaze.

Chi regarded her sister tentatively, silently calculating the probabilities of her sister's reaction to different responses at lightening speed. Loving her so much, it was sometimes difficult to remember but foolish to forget how dangerous Meri truly was.

The young girl's facial expression could change her entire appearance. A smile with closed, slightly upturned lips just below her downward sloping nose made her look sweet and alluring or if the lips were just slightly pursed, she looked playful. Those were good smiles and fairly true indicators of her current emotional state.

Any smile showing her pearly whites wasn't a sign of happiness; it was Meri baring her teeth to show her dominance. These smiles made her dark, slightly arched eyebrows raise higher while her eyes widened and danced wildly, her nose flaring only slightly. Such a look was a clear indicator of an oncoming storm with the intensity of a level five hurricane.

If the same teeth-baring grin accompanied a sideward tilt of her head with her chin tilting downward while her eyes raised playfully, it meant the game was all but over. Any chance an opponent thought he had from that point was just a result of Meri cruelly playing with him like a cat with a mouse.

Frankly, China was very uncomfortable with her sister's use of such a beautiful smile to mask murderous intent. China was also troubled by her inability to read Meri. Dr. Ootori wouldn't even be in the same room with her or India to keep the girls out of his head, but China could still at least gleam his mood. With Meri she could occasionally get a bit of a feeling here or a fleeting piece of an emotion there but nothing she could hold on to and evaluate. The older girl likened her sister's imperviousness to her mental abilities to regular humans who could beat a lie detector test. It often crossed China's mind that Meri might actually be a psychopath. Then she realized she was probably one herself, so why should she care.

Meri's current expression was quite unsettling. Her jaw clinched, eyes deep with still and stony determination, and her lips together with the bottom one protruding slightly further than the top were all indications of intense thought and concentration. Unless China had to be involved in crime or war, she didn't want Meri thinking so hard. Bad things happen when a tactician decides you're the main obstacle to victory. China had to at least give Meri the illusion that she was going to get her way.

"OK, OK, just a little while longer, please. I'm just not ready yet, Meri. Two more weeks. Then you can put her down." Chi acquiesced.

"Agreed," Meri replied, her face softening and her lips forming a closed mouth smile, she pulled her big sister into a hug.

"Meri, there's someone here," Chi said, before the blinking light of the silent alarm even started.

Pulling back to meet China's gaze with a wide eyes, arched eyebrows and a large, pursed-lip smile, the little blonde replied, "I know. Can you smell them too? This should be fun!"

* * *

Sitting down beside a weary and weak Dr. Yoshi Ootori, Pan, placed a straw beneath his mouth and allowed him to drink from a cup before spooning some soup into his mouth. An IV dripped another blood transfusion into the doctor's dying and near dead body.

"I guess it's lucky you made us all universal donors. Otherwise, you would have died before Rush and I got to spend some time with Daddy," the handsome, young man said with a smile as he brushed the doctor's hair back away from his face with his index finger and removed the man's glasses. Above the boy's angelic smile, his eyes betrayed his true feelings. Giving a cynical laugh, signs of anger contorted the boyish man's beautiful face into a mask of hatred and disgust.

Pan slapped Dr. Ootori across the face hard, reopening a cut that had previously clotted. He older man loosed a muffled sound of pain, his tongue reaching out to his lips to lick at the fresh blood. Pan checked the doctor's restraints to make sure he was bound tightly.

Sitting across the room, eating a package of crackers and drinking a can of soda he found in one of the now warm refrigerators, Rush scoffed, "Don't keep him alive on my account. I'd just as soon put a bullet in his head."

"That's because he never plowed your ass in a room full of your siblings to remind them not to ever look him in the eye without his express permission. Did he ever make you fuck a girl you were in love with while he watched?"

"I've never been in love, but no. I guess I'm not his type. I'm not as pretty as you," Rush raised his eyebrows and smiled at his brother and closest friend."

"Ah, fuck you, Rush," Pan said with a very slight chuckle, I hate my girlish looks."

"Fuck me?" Rush responded with mock hurt, but I'm not gay. Why don't you cut your damn hair? You look like a fucking anime character." Rush was laughing loudly.

Pan gave him the finger as he replied, "I'm not gay! I can't help that the bastard forced himself on me. He said he'd hurt India and Ari bad if fought him. They're cogs, Asshole, no rapid healing. They could be killed if he cut loose on them." A single tear escaped the young man's eye, betraying his pain and showing what a lost and vulnerable soul he truly was.

"Shit, I'm sorry, Brother. I was just fucking with you," Rush replied with sincerity before snarking, "Just let me know if I go too far."

Pan shook this head, flipping his brother off again as he said, "I can't cut my hair. Meri loves it like this."

"Pan...you left her," Rush reminded.

"I'm going back for her before I head to the mountain," he replied.

"What if she won't go?"

Pan sighed audibly, "I don't know. Maybe I'll stay."

"In the Hell hole," Rush gasped?!

Pan didn't know what to say. He didn't want to live in the research compound where he had spent all the years of his life. He would never step foot in it again if the love of his life wasn't there. Having been the only siblings forced to participate their creator's perversions, Pan and Meri had clung to one another. No one else understood, not even their dream partners.

When he left, Meri refused to leave China which Pan understood. What bothered him was she hadn't asked him to stay. He still thought she loved him, but he had insecurities and nagging doubts as well. Maybe she didn't love him as much as he loved her. At least he had begged her to go with him. Meri had just kissed him good-bye and waved as he drove off, not knowing it she would ever see him again. Pan worried that she didn't want or need him now that Dr. Ootori was unable to hurt them.

"I suppose you're going after Sweets?" Pan replied mostly to end the conversation.

Rush got the point. "Yeah, but just to check on her and find out what her plans are if she has any. She only came with us because she was hoping to find the the oldest Ootori brother alive and live happily ever after," Rush replied a bit disgusted.

"Do you know where she is are do you need to try to track her? That's going to be hard after so many days."

"I followed her after she grabbed that fucker's picture and ran off. She went to a store and started slugging some booze. I watched her from a distance until I saw a few guys scoping the store. Then I slipped around behind the store and broke in the back door. I watched from the shadows." Rush explained.

"Stealthy," Pan smirked.

"Yeah, one guy standing point out front and two in the building. They were just like, I...shopping I guess, and they were having a good time until one found Sweets and called the other. Then all Hell broke loose. It was unsettling. I couldn't take it. I had to go out back and just wait to follow them," Rush replied, the look in his eyes seemed far away as if he was remembering.

"Tell me. You can't just drop a line like that and not explain, and hurry up. That blood transfusion is almost finished, and then I'm going to fuck that bastard," Pan insisted.

Rush rolled his eyes. He thought screwing Dr. Ootori up his ass for revenge was fitting justice but also kind of gross. The thought of touching the piece of shit made Rush's skin crawl. It was different for Pan though. His brother was already use to the feel of the evil doctor against his body, and it had really messed him up. Rush knew his brother needed this in order to move past what happened, but he still thought it was pretty fucked up.

"OK, OK," Russia began with a small frown as he remembered the day Eden fled from the Ootori mansion after finding out her lover, Yuuichi Ootori, was dead. "Basically, this really tall, tough but good looking guy with a katana strapped across his back locks eyes with our sister, and they look at each other like gourmet meals for awhile, making the second guy so uncomfortable, he ran out to stand watch with the guy up front."

"Yeah? What happened," Pan asked?

"They just...it's hard to explain exactly. By the time they kissed, I could almost feel their lust hanging around the room like steam from the shower when the bathroom door is closed. They kind of melted into each other all intense and frenzied before they started screwing like a couple of wild animals."

"Whoa, Sweets finally picked one out for herself...sounds hot," Pan replied, snickering.

"Maybe for him. I was pissed. She never fucked me like that," Rush complained.

"She barely ever fucked you," Pan laughed loudly now, "You guys only did it like two times."

"Three," Rush managed, "it would have been more if that bastard over there hadn't handed her over to his son like a birthday present."

Pan was laughing again, "Hahaha, 'Daddy' was pretty pissed when Sweet's used her super snatch to get the Ootori heir to fall in love with her."

"Hmph, would of been a great trick if she hadn't fallen for him too," Rush muttered before saying, "Transfusions's done, Ass-pirate."

"Good, because I'm not finished with 'Daddy' by a long shot," Pan replied as he unbuckled his belt and took another condom out of the box and held it up, "I don't want his disgusting, diseased blood on my junk."

* * *

If the Ootori patriarch had not been cautioned to keep his mouth shut under penalty of being gagged, he would be begging forgiveness for all the wrongs he had done to the two young men who were calmly discussing his eminent assault. He knew Pan and Rush deserved much better than he had given them. Yoshi wished he could undo all he had done to them, especially Pan.

Long ago Dr. Ootori convinced himself Dreama and later America were special, more human then rest of his creations. He told himself, the others were simply living, breathing experiments, his research that he could do with as he pleased.

Down deep in what small speck of a heart he had allowed himself to keep, Yoshi Ootori knew they were just children with real feelings and desires, capable of love, anger, happiness and sadness. He couldn't deny he brought all of the misery he currently endured on himself, but he welcomed the torture, because his soul longed for penance. He could never suffer enough to make up for all he had done and his death wasn't justice enough.

Losing two of his sons to a disease he created for profit had deeply effected Dr. Ootori. He never showed it enough, but he loved Akito and Yuuichi. The pain he felt at their deaths burned away the icy wall that held back all of his feelings and thawed his cold heart. With the floodgates open, emotions poured out of him like lava oozing down the sides of a recently erupted volcano. The weight of his sins crushed him against the molten rock and squeezed the truth out of him. He had swallowed his love and pride for his created children but refused to digest it, letting it ferment inside of him and turn to gurgling bile.

When he asked himself why he closed his heart and perpetrated heinous transgressions towards his beautiful creations, Dr. Ootori realized he had sought to objectify them, allowing him to see them as little more than animals.

He needed to think of them as no better than hunting dogs or work horses in order to send them to do the things he created them to do. They were born as commodities to be bought and sold to render whatever services asked of them, designed to be soldiers, spies, and assassins or to provide sexual services for important clients and business associates. All of the children had very successfully completed any and all missions assigned to them, and the doctor had been paid handsomely for their services.

A single blood tainted tear slid down Dr. Ootori's face as he thought about how he berated his oldest son for falling in love with Eden. He told Yuuichi he was weak and pathetic as if he wasn't just as guilt himself. Yuuichi apologized for disappointing his father but refused to apologize for his relationship with the girl, so Yoshi quickly pushed his son into an arranged marriage. The young man did his duty for his family, but it changed nothing between him and Eden. His son loved her and protected her ferociously against Dreama and even his father. Eventually, Dr. Ootori warned Yuuichi that if he interfered with Eden's deployment for missions, his financial backers would say she wasn't cost effective and call for her destruction. His son suffered a huge defeat, allowing Eden to go back to work.

Dr. Ootori remembered the sadness and depression his son felt every time the girl was sent out with one of their handlers to a mission. Eden was deployed to infiltrate corporations to learn secrets or sabotage business rivals. She was very good at it, making use of her considerable skills in swaying men to do her will. More often than not, sex with one or more persons was required to complete her objective. Other times she was given to a VIP as a gift for the evening, performing the same duties required of a whore. China was used as a gift as well but only with clients or associates whose proclivities made them favor a body that was underdeveloped.

The doctor had hoped his oldest son would be disgusted when Eden returned from her missions and turn his back on the girl, but he had regarded it as something being done to her rather than something she was doing. Every mission Eden performed only strengthened Yuuichi's resolve, making him feel sorry for her and inflaming his passion.

In the past, Dr. Ootori was embarrassed by having familial thoughts for his creations, and he was angry at Yuuichi for loving so freely. In truth he was jealous. To admit loving any of them would be behavior tantamount to scientists without the stomach to sacrifice a few animals to cure disease. Closing his eyes and feeling true self-disgust, Yoshi continued to cry. He hated himself not only for what he'd done to all of his children, biological or otherwise, and because he had committed another sin that was far worse.

His regenerative research couldn't be used to cure a disease, but as a vaccine it could have provided immunity for many of them. The technology was also effective as a treatment to slow damage to the body and prolong life. However, calculating the cost-ratios, he determined continuing to treat people traditionally for injuries and diseases would earn him far more money than preventing diseases or providing quick recovery from injuries. Additionally, if such healing options were available to everyone, his created children's services would be of less value to wealthy corporations and the government. However, after losing his boys to a disease he created, the money meant less than nothing to him. The doctor wished he had cared less about money and focused on his family more. After his wife died, he could have falsified experiment failure documents and brought Dreama home to raise Kyoya, never creating the others. Because of his greed he failed them all, probably Dreama most of all. He turned her into as much of a monster as he had become.

Ironically, his covert, medical discoveries were keeping him alive now. Every blood transfusion Pan gave him of the blood from the boy's own body would repair damage to the doctor's beaten, broke and diseased body, allowing him to linger in excruciating pain indefinitely. The transfusion would prop him up, but the disease was still churning inside his body, attacking what was repaired again and again.

"I guess your ass is pretty sore now," the beautiful boy scoffed, turning the man over and slapping his ass. Pan looked at his creator with bitter disdain. "It's about to get worse."

As Dr. Ootori braced himself for what was to come, he took a quick peak into the young man's eyes, earning himself a sharp blow to the gut. Pan adjusted the doctor's restraints, allowing him to flip the man over on his stomach so he didn't have to see Dr. Ootori's face. Yoshi closed his eyes and thought about what had brought the once sweet and obedient boy to such rage.

* * *

Hikaru wasn't a big fan of the laundry detail, but it was worth it to be with his twin. He much preferred serving on the security team with Kenya. Hikaru respected her a lot, because of her skills, drive and discipline. She really knew her stuff.

The worse part of working laundry detail was lugging clothes to the lake and scrubbing clothes on a washboard. It was hard and tedious work, but he liked the sewing even if it was mostly patch work.

There had been some talk of Ari figuring out how to get them some running water, but so far it hadn't happened. India seemed to be anxious to create a power source to get the electricity going. Hikaru wasn't holding his breath. They had no lights, no working stove or refrigerator. Hell, the toilets didn't even work. The maintenance crew had to lug heavy containers of water in from the lake and fill up one bathtub on each floor with water, so the toilet could be flushed. Most of the kids he had gone to school with had their always had their large and luxurious, private bathrooms. Now they all had to share with everyone of their hall. The security details were always took scavenging teams to look for things everyone needed, candles, matches, lanterns, solar panels, food, everything really.

At least they all got hot, homemade bread each day. The lodge had a lot of fire places, and Ari had managed to rig some of them up as make-shift ovens, allowing village inhabitants to have hot meals as well as the delicious bread that kept their home smelling wonderful. From what he had been told, making the bread was a terribly long and tedious process. The kitchen staff took turns rotating each team member through twelve hour shifts, so at least one baker was always working on making the bread twenty-four hours a day. Hikaru was grateful the took the time, because no matter what was going on or how he was feeling, the smell of the baking bread always soothed him even though the rooms with the fireplaces running made half the lodge too hot.

* * *

"Are you sure this is the place?" Tamaki asked.

"No, but I don't see any other hidden, underground research labs at these coordinates. Do you?" Kyoya asked sarcastically. He immediately felt like a prick, but then he heard Tamaki loose a slight chuckle, making his heart soar.

"I just hope there will be a working shower. I can still feel...," Tamaki's voice trailed off, but Kyoya knew exactly what his friend was thinking.

"I'll get you some clean water as soon as possible. There's always the case of bottled water I found even if there is no running water here," Kyoya felt terrible for not offering the water earlier. Tamaki simply nodded. He seemed to at least be trying to put the incident behind him.

Kyoya had used half of the codes on the back of the map now. They were security lock overrides. The young Ootori was getting worried. It seemed like each door just led to another dark corridor, but the door in front of him now bore the Ootori Group logo. This was definitely the place.

This time it was Meri seated in front of the monitors in the control room, her data port was plugged in and online as her fingers fluttered across a complicated control panel like a poker player shuffling cards.

"He isn't breaking in. He has the correct override sequences," Meri informed her sister.

"Assassins sent by the Ootori Group!" Chi gasp.

"Maybe, but I don't think so. If so they are scraping the bottom of the barrel for talent these days. One of them is wearing glasses. Who hires an inferior to go up against us? Plus, Ootori group has its own private police force. Why send only two? I could kill two alone...in my sleep," Meri reasoned, "Reach for them, Chi."

"Ugh, it gives me such a headache at this distance!" the girl complained. Meeting her sister's gaze and seeing the look Meri was giving her, Chi changed her mind.

"Fine, but I'm out of practice, since someone keeps HER mind so guarded," China began, "They are both crudely armed...kitchen knifes." Meri laughed, rolling her eyes.

"The blonde is...broken, scared, angry. There's fresh trauma all over him. He's no assassin. The other one is...very closed-off...I can't get a good read on him from here, but he's affected by the trauma as well but perhaps not as centrally. I'll have to relax him to get inside. So...what now?"

"I'm thinking. We have to take them pretty quickly. There is no telling what codes they have and what damage they could do with them. Hell, they could free her!" Meri gasp, jumping from her seat, nearly yanking her data port connector out.

Chi snickered at the impatience of youth. Meri was the tactician, but she didn't always give herself the time she needed to formulate a plan, "Sit down, Baby Girl, there's no way to get to the Mom Monster without passing here. Even if her door opened, you could break her neck before she breached the first exit."

Pursing her lips like a petulant child, the brawn stared at the brains, smarting from being laughed at by her sister. Chi gave her a loving smile, softening the younger girl's mood. "They seem harmless enough. You lock out the rest of their codes and then follow. I'm keeping the blonde," Meri said as if she was speaking of buying a doll.

"Like a pet?" Chi asked.

"Kind of," Meri replied. Chi shook her head. Meri could have him and any other man for that matter. China had little use for them.

* * *

Kyoya jumped as he heard the click of a decontamination shield locking shut before a voice came over a speaker system. The voice was sweet, low but slightly rehearsed or robotic. He wasn't sure which yet.

Voice:_ Your access has been authorized. Welcome to Ootori research compound 1371. Please stand by for decontamination. It is recommended that you keep you eyes and mouth closed during the process._

The two teenaged boys sighed a breath of relief before water began to pour over them. When the siege was over both were left cold and wet in soaked clothes and shoes. However, the contamination shield still holding them in the cell made Tamaki far more uncomfortable than his wet clothing.

* * *

Chi was still watching her newly arrived visitors with interest, and now she had her data port connected to the system, able to control the entire compound's internal systems from the control room. Upon noticing the cornered-animal look the blonde was sporting, Chi made another announcement, "_Please remain calm. Help and comfort will arrive shortly."_

Meri sprinted to the living area closest to the compound's entry. No one used this part of the compound anymore. It had been the quarters of Meri's creators and her enslavers. Quickly, she began making some rice and a stew. Luckily, there was some left over rabbit meat that had been cooked a day ago. Meri quickly shredded it and added it to the pot. She set a few controls and timers. Chi would do the rest.

There was still more prep required. Meri grabbed clean towels and made sure both bathrooms had everything necessary. Before heading to the decontamination area, the young girl stopped to check herself out in the mirror, brushing her hair and pinching her cheeks for a little color.

* * *

Tamaki paced the small area where he and his best friend were confined. Kyoya was leaning against the wall waiting patiently. The blonde was aware his actions were probably driving his friend crazy, but he couldn't make himself stop. Tamaki felt as if the walls were closing in on him, and even worse, he was scared his attacker might be the one who ended up walking through the door when it opened. The terrified, young man reached behind his back, touching the handle of the butcher's knife he'd hooked through his belt.

When a loud buzzer sounded, both boys jumped and stood in defensive stances as they waited for the door to open. Tamaki felt sick and his face took on a murky greenish hue. He would have vomited if he hadn't already vomited twice in the last hour. He had nothing left to up chuck. His heart was pounding through his chest, and he couldn't swallow the lump in his throat while his entire body felt hot. His skin was clammy with perspiration even with all the water that was dumped over him. The shield clicked, and the door clattered, slowly opening to reveal a girl standing in the doorway.

"Dreama?" Kyoya questioned.

Meri wasn't sure what he meant. Maybe he thought she was a mirage or was he really looking for Dreama. She smiled and gave both young men a low bow which they quickly returned.


	4. A Time to Heal

**Intended for Mature Audiences **

**Disclaimer**: I don't own or have any affiliation with the Ouran High School Host club.

**Author's Note**: Dystopian future stories are a favorite of mine, so I was anxious to write one. This is my second story ever, so I hope I haven't bit off more than I can chew.

I wrote and re-wrote this chapter numerous times. It drove me nuts, but I'm happy with it now.

I realize my OCs might come off as Mary Sue-ish, esp at first. If Joss Whedon, George R.R. Martain and Charlaine Harris were afraid of a little Mary Sue, we would have no River Tam, Buffy, Danaryes Targaryan or Eric Northman. At least I'm in good company. I promise all of my OCs will be flawed and killable and with the help of the Hosts, they will all experience personal growth or die horribly during the story.

* * *

**Tamaki**

The slender blonde girl was quick to greet the two boys, "I hope you will forgive us, but we never expected to have any guests. I'm sure you are hungry and tired, and I can see you are both wet and cold. Please, remove your wet clothing and place them in the shoot on the right side of the room. I will leave these towels for you to dry and cover yourselves."

Meri turned her back and waited while Kyoya and Tamaki did as they were instructed. Kyoya stayed in place and casually undressed while Tamaki stood back in the corner as if ashamed of the physique he had always previously flaunted. Once the young men were dry and wrapped in fluffy, white towels, Meri lead them out of the room.

"Dinner will be ready soon. Until then I will show you where you can take a proper shower and change into dry clothes," Meri continued.

She led Kyoya to the first room on the right, having him follow her straight to the bathroom. Meri turned on the shower and directed Kyoya's attention to some toiletries and clean towels. Placing some clean clothes on the bathroom counter, Meri closed the door behind her as she left.

"Follow me, please," Meri smiled at Tamaki. She was taken aback by his expression of fear and uncertainty. The handsome blonde was trembling and kept looking back at the door to the bathroom.

"I'm sorry. Do you and the brunette usually bathe together?" she asked tentatively.

"No! Why would you ask such a thing?" the blonde screamed, the crystal blue ocean of his eyes giving way to a wave of lilacs. Meri couldn't help but stare at the beautiful shade of violet. Tilting her head and smiling, a twinkle of wonderment crossed her eyes.

"You're really beautiful," Meri replied, completely ignoring the scared boy's question and tone.

Tamaki always loved compliments, but today he didn't know how to accept one. He didn't feel beautiful. The handsome, blonde man felt ugly, broken, dirty and ashamed, and he was shocked when his hostess asked him if he showered with Kyoya. Tamaki couldn't believe she thought he was gay, and he feared she somehow knew what happened.

Meri reached out and took his hand, squeezing it gently. Tamaki's first instinct was to jerk away from her, but he was already struggling to keep his towel around him with only one hand. The last thing he wanted was to be exposed, so he couldn't pull away. Assuming she would lead him to another bathroom and let go of him, the frazzled boy decided to bear with the unwanted physical contact. To his surprise, Tamaki quickly began to enjoy the warm sensation he received from Meri's touch and allowed their fingers to intertwine. The virtual strangers stood silently while holding hands for a few seconds.

"Feel better?" the young girl asked with a triumphant smile. Tamaki had no idea why or how, but he did.

"I'm sorry about my manners. I rarely meet new people. My name is Meri. I should of told you that earlier."

"Tamaki," the young man replied, "and my friend is Kyoya."

The blonde girl's eyes flickered for only a half a second at the mention of his friend's names before she flashed a sedate smile and nodded. Still holding Tamaki's hand, she turned to lead him to the room across the hall bathroom adjoined to Akito's old room. They passed through and entered another bathroom.

As the girl began to fill the tub, Tamaki felt a sense of relief, because he desperately wanted to submerge his body in hot water and scrub the filth of his attacker away. Meri ran her hand through the water to test the temperature before gathering a stack of towels, a bar of soap and some shampoo. She added a generous amount of liquid soap to the running water, causing an explosion of bubbles.

Once the girl slipped out the door, Tamaki dropped his towel, entered the tub and began to scrub his skin raw. So focused on scrapping every last cell from the top layer of his skin the traumatized, young man did not even notice when Meri returned with his change of clothes.

Chi's distance readings were pretty good, particularly when they weren't too specific, so Meri already knew her guest had recently suffered some type of shock and distress. The bruise on his face and several wounds and on his hands indicated a serious altercation, but watching him scrub himself to bits, told her something worse had happened. Meri could relate to his sorrow and shame.

During the past five years, Meri was on the receiving end of plenty of beatings and torturous punishments. Dr. Ootori's perfect achievements, humanoids genetically enhanced and modified with cutting edge technology, allowed him to perceive himself as a God, and his creations were not allowed to do anything to disrupt his delusion.

Being knocked around wasn't so bad, especially for the physical models. Beatings were usually the result of making a mistake during a simulation or training, so for they were almost always immediate and usually didn't last very long. It was best to just stand still and take it. Fighting back would cause Hell to rise up until it floated just beneath the offender's feet, burning and tormenting them. Defiance of any kind resulted in punishments often much worse than death, causing the children begged to be put out of their misery.

Starving, restraints, sweat boxes, water boarding, nothing was off limits to keep Dr. Ootori's creations in line. However, the worst part of being punished wasn't the actual punishment. When one child was to be tortured, there was a fifty percent chance a sibling would be chosen to share the same fate.

Everyone was forced to watch as a sentence was passed down, and fear wrecked each child's soul as they were lined up against the wall, waiting to see who would be picked to share in the suffering. An uprising was out of the question. Each day a sibling was chosen at random to serve as insurance, a sacrificial lamb. Locked in the 'Protection Cell' as it was called, the little lamb would wait until another took his place the next day, hoping his siblings didn't martyr him by trying to escape. With the correct codes, the facility could be locked down easily, and lock down protocol included releasing a poisonous gas into the Protection Cell.

The threat of being labeled as defective and destroyed always loomed heavily as well. Three of the siblings had proved too aggressive to be useful, so without any warning or fanfare, they were taken to the lab for 'testing' and were not seen again. When China was finally able to hacked the system, she learned most of Dr. Ootori's secrets, including how he had poisoned Turk, Egypt and Trail and cut them up for spare parts and experiments, a process his research logs referred to as recycling.

The young girl quietly slipped out of her clothes, leaving them in a pile on the bathroom floor. Walking to the other end of the tub, Meri sat down on the corner before pulling her knees up to her chest. So intent on decontaminating himself, it took Tamaki a couple of minutes to realize a naked girl was watching him. He looked up at her with haunted eyes, a tear running down his cheek.

"What do you want from me?" He whispered pitifully.

"I can help you," She replied softly, "I'll start by washing your hair. Can you handle that much yet?"

The younger teenager slipped one foot down the side of the tub and dangled it questioningly above the water. The older teen nodded quietly. The bathtub wasn't enormous but was still more than large enough for two people to move around freely. Meri knew better than to try to position herself behind the frightened boy, so she moved next to him, working a lather into his hair without saying a word. Once the coconut scented shampoo returned her new pet's dirt and sweat streaked hair to its natural, brilliant blonde, Meri slipped around in front of him, catching his gaze as she began to gently dap a clean, damp washcloth over his battle worn forehead.

Tamaki wasn't sure why he was OK with the girl seeing him in his current state. He just knew he felt better when she was touching him. While Meri was washing his hair, he felas uh more comfortable and could finally push some of the darkness from his mind. As long as he kept his eyes closed, he could stay in that secure place.

"What is that?" He asked.

"What?" Meri replied.

"Why does it feel good when you touch me?" Tamaki opened his eyes, more willing to talk now.

The girl raised an eyebrow and smirked at the former host but did not speak.

"That's not what I mean. It's different. I can't really explain it," Tamaki stammered.

"I know what you are talking about, but the answers not sexy. You might even find it pretty disgusting."

"Let's hear it," the former host king insisted.

"It's just an enzyme my body secretes, but not completely involuntarily. I can control it," his young hostess explained. It causes a sharp, momentary increase in serotonin production in your brain. My body produces a few more pheromones than other girls.

Tamaki nodded as if he believed her. Though he was generally a naive and trusting person, Meri's explanation struck him as ludicrous. He thought the girl was either messing with him or a complete lunatic. However, his mind eased as his attention was diverted elsewhere.

As the young girl repositioned to get more comfortable, her considerable assets heaved up around the surface of the bath water and were displayed before her guests for a few seconds before the water calmed. As if waking from a dream, the stark realization of being in the tub with a naked woman hit Tamaki like a fly smacking against the windshield of a speeding race car.

His hormonal body reacted immediately, his face heating up to a candy-apple red, blushing with embarrassment. Meri didn't acknowledge the stiffening below Tamaki's waist, but his change of hue and shakiness were apparent. As the poor boy nearly fainted, her arms with reached out to steady him.

While keeping him from faltering, the girl popped up on her knees, forcing most of her torso over the surface of the water. Tamaki was dumbstruck buy her casual attitude, but she didn't seem to be coming on to him. Instead, it felt like being around a toddler who didn't realize being naked in front of strangers was inappropriate.

Between labored breaths, the former host club king took a moment to really look his hostess over. Tamaki found the girl attractive but in the same way someone would be visually stimulated by an untamed wilderness or a raging river, fascination paired with trepidation. Sandy-blonde hair, darker than his own, would make Meri a novelty in Japan, but in France, she would have blended in with every other girl. The ends of her long locks were cut unevenly as if she'd done it herself, but she did have flawless skin. Some naturally warm undertones were visiable, but she was still quite pale. Meri's prominent bone structure was striking, giving her a sharply-angled jawline, pronounced cheekbones and a small, slightly jutting chin made to appear rounded by a slight cleft just under her bottom lip.

During most of their short interaction, only one feature held Tamaki's interest. He liked her mouth. Meri's plump and kissable bottom lip and her thinner, upper lip sat naturally closed, but once, just before her tongue arrived to lick dryness away, her mouth held a pose able to rival any vintage pin-up poster.

Being under the girl's unwavering gaze was intimidating for Tamaki. Rather than simply looking at him to admire his features, he felt her eyes burrowing into him. He could almost see her mind racing down the neural pathways etched in his brain, peeling back each layer of thought or feeling and absorbing his private thoughts. Tamaki was holding his breath, wishing she would just stop starring at him, so when Meri finally blinked, he was able to exhale and regulate his breathing.

After what was only a moment but felt like hours, the girl decided to further explain her previous answer. "I guess it's a form of manipulation on my part, making you feel something you wouldn't have without the chemical reaction. Just like breathing is involuntary for you but you can also control it, releasing the enzyme is the same for me. My body does it when it feels the need or I can make it happen," Meri said as if no one would question her sanity. I'm sure hou have something your good at too. Everyone has their own talents, right?"

"I play the piano," Tamaki offered.

"Ah, see, that's special...Now Chi, my sister, she's an awesome empath. If she concentrates on what a person nearby is thinking, she can draw you a perfect picture from what she sees in his mind.

Tamaki felt so strange. Meri seemed as if she believed what she was saying, and for some reason, his intuition told him to trust her. He felt like White Queen, trying to believe as many as six impossible things before breakfast as she lived live backwards in time through the looking glass. After having lived through a world-changing epidemic and brutally losing his virginity to another man, landing in a live action, science fiction movie seemed about right. Tamaki didn't think anything else could unhinge him, but he was wrong. As he pondered the surreal nature of his present situation as well as his hostess's possible insanity, the girl stood up without warning and reached for a towel.

The hormone-riddled teen couldn't help peeking. Meri had a the body of a woman who spent a lot of the working on her physical fitness. Something else unusual that he noted was the complete lack on any marks on her body, no birthmarks, moles or scars, not even so much as a freckle.

Meri bent her knee and raised her leg to place her foot on the side of the tub, bending at the waist to dry her foot and leg with a towel, giving Tamaki a full view of her firm backside. Having dried her foot, she stepped out of the tub, placing the other foot on the edge to dry it, exposing even more flesh to the already gobsmacked, young man.

Tamaki was embarrassed to death but couldn't help but stare. He had never seen a completely naked woman at least not in person, and now he was nearly at eye level with the hairless, pink juncture between her legs. The heart-shaped box was close enough to reach out and touch, but with all the blood rushing to Tamaki's head, threatening to give him a nosebleed or make him pass out, the older blonde had to look away.

Once she was completely out of the tub and dry, Meri, who had known she was being ogled from the start, didn't acknowledged Tamaki's reaction. Instead, she said, "You're all clean now."

Meri's voice snapped the peeping Tom-aki back into the moment just before she reached over and offered the other blonde her hand. Taking it without thinking, Tamaki snatched it back when he realized how exposed he would be if he stood. The girl tilted her head, a confused expression spread across her face.

"You need medical attention. I can help you," she stated, "Please, stand up and follow me."

Tamaki froze in place his eyes shaky as he held back invading tears. The boy's emotions were palpable, giving Meri a twinge of his fear and self-loathing.

"My poor, poor puppy, don't be afraid," she said as she spread the towel with open arms and held it outward while turning her head away.

Shaking, Tamaki stood, grabbing the top of the out stretched towel and quickly wrapping it around his waist as he stepped out of the tub. Using another towel, Meri began to dry her guest's hair and any exposed skin. Liking the way the boy's damp, blonde locks fell stickily around his face, Meri took a moment to run her fingers through them before quickly leading Tamaki out to the bedroom. In her haste, the clothes she brought for him were left on the sink basin.

Once Meri had Tamaki close enough to the bed, she told him to sit down and relax while she fiddled around in the drawer of the nightstand. He started to ask for clothes, but before he could speak, she open what looked like a large pen or sharpie marker and slammed the end into his shoulder, pushing the exposed end down like a small plunger. Tamaki gave a frightened yelp before losing control of his muscle tone, his upper body falling back on the bed while his legs and feet dangled down the edge. He was conscious but his entire body felt heavy, making raising his limbs even an inch difficult.

* * *

**Yoshio Ootori**

Because the older man had been disturbed by his attraction to the boy, Dr. Ootori had treated Pan most indignantly. The young man was as pretty as any girl with his shaggy, midnight-black hair, long eyelashes and gorgeous delicate skin and hands. The girls kept Pan's hair cut in layers. The top layer sat just over the boy's ears while the bottom layer fell down around his chin, framing his fine features.

Pan was a bit shorter than the other boys at five foot eight, but his body was perfect, muscular, strong and toned, making him incredibly sexy. His thin, straight eyebrows were striking over his almond shaped eyes.

Those narrow, and puppy-dog sad eyes were more than just beautiful. They were piercing, pitch-black orbs swirled with silvery gray, capable of capturing and trapping the doctor him forever. For that reason, Yoshio insisted the boy never look him directly in the eye without being asked to do so.

Pan screamed and cried, the first time Dr. Ootori forced him into submission. Subsequent times, he sobbed quietly. On a whim, the doctor once insisted the boy take America as a lover while he looked on, allowing the older man to finally see his same-sexed lover reach climax. The sight of erotic heat personified on the young man's face made Yoshio's body surge with a burning lust.

Now Dr. Ootori found himself ashamed at how cruel and twisted he had become over the years. Mistreating those children had crept into his very soul, turning him into a monster in every faucet of his life. Hot bloody tears breached his eyes again as he thought about how he had treated Kyoya, his own blood, as a pawn, beating him when ever it served his purpose or temperament.

Struggling to endure the same pain he had frequently inflicted on Pan, Dr. Ootori's mind wandered into the past. As he tried to recall when he first crossed the line from detached and unfeeling to cruel and malevolent, the doctor realized it wasn't one act that pushed him over the edge. His soul eroded slowly as he committed a series of smaller offenses.

The oldest Ootori cringed as he remembered rationalizing his sexual assaults. He had lots of excuses: He's not a real person, only an experiment; We need to know how he will stand up to interrogation; He doesn't have a chronological age or even officially exist.

Red liquid blinded the doctor as he cried. Ootori used medical ingenuity and technology to mature the children from infants to a stage where they would be just on the verge of puberty. At that stage, they were large enough to install their data ports, and after a short recovery period, he could continue the artificial maturation progress until their bodies reached sexual maturity. In pure years Pan was only ten, but he had been progressed to nearly eighteen years old. Sadly, he never had a chance to emotionally mature. Now he was an angry adolescent in a man's body, trained to kill and bent on revenge.

Dreama, the level one prototype, has an actual age of twenty-five-years old, but she gave birth to Kyoya only seventeen years ago. Dr. Ootori had been disappointed with his experiment, hoping Kyoya would inherit his mother's evolved characteristics such as superior speed, strength and intelligence. The boy had definitely gotten the brain power. In that area Kyoya was most remarkable, but Yoshio was upset his son had inherited so many of his own weaknesses such as poor eyesight. After Dr. Ootori deemed the experiment a failure, he took Kyoya to raise as his son with his sickly wife and equipped all future female models with a fertilization shield designed to prevent conception and emitted laboratory-created enzymes to prevent menses.

All level two models as well as all level five models had been failures with gross abnormalities and were recycled. The only surviving level three model, Germany, is twelve years old with a progressed age of 20. Like Pan, all other level four models survived the past ten years with an estimated progressed age of seventeen or eighteen. America, now progressed to 15, was the only model six to survive.

In Dr. Ootori's eyes, Meri was perfect, exceptional and magnificent in every way. By rights, Meri should have been gifted to Akito as his father had originally intended, but the young man was disgusted by his older brother's relationship with Eden. Akito called her an abomination and said Yuuchi might as well be screwing a sheep. Dr. Ootori was intrigued by the idea of pairing Meri with Kyoya for awhile, but in the end, the doctor fell victim to his own trappings, unable to resist keeping her as his own. He knew he was a fool taken in by laboratory enzymes, but he couldn't stop himself.

The sickly, middle-aged man was jarred back into the present as he felt a rush of warm moisture hit his back. Pan had stopped moving, but Yoshio could still feel the young man inside of him, telling him the feeling wasn't caused by what he initially believed. Hearing the pretty boy cough and spit, Dr. Ootori realized Pan had emptied the contents of his stomach on him.

"Shit! Don't make yourself ill just to get back at that prick," Rush approached.

Pan removed himself from the doctor's body. Hot tears streamed down his face. He thought he would enjoy punishing his father in the same way the man had hurt him, but forcing himself on someone just made him feel dead inside. The first time Pan had gotten thru the ordeal by drinking a bunch of alcohol he found around the house before he began to assault the doctor. Hearing him scream had been incredible, but the exhilarating feeling was all too fleeting. Anger and hatred didn't arouse the pretty boy and neither did Dr. Ootori. Pan could barely perform long enough to finish. He thought being sober would help, but it was worse. He feared what his father had always said about him was true; he was too weak.

Rush handed his brother a towel and some bottled water. Pan swished some of the water around in his mouth before spitting it out on Dr. Ootori. He wiped the tears from his face first before removing the condom and throwing it at the older man too. After Pan wiping himself down, Rush helped him dress and directed him to another room to calm down.

"Just let it go, Brother...please," Rush begged, "I hate seeing you put yourself through this. It's hurting you more than him."

"I...I know. I just have to get the memory out of my mind is all," Pan began, "I just keep seeing that first time in my head...," Pan's voice trailed off.

He had always completed his missions and met the objectives of his training exercises, but his father always berated him for having no flair and for what he referred to as a 'lack of pride in his work'. Pan didn't know how to be proud of something he didn't care to do. He had been broken just like all of his siblings. He understood his brothers or sisters would be hurt if he refused to follow orders, so without question.

Pan tried to keep his actions mechanical and not involve feelings in the equation. If he allowed himself to feel anything during his missions, he wouldn't be able to complete them. Afterwards when the dust settled and his handlers arrived to take him back to the compound, Pan would finally acknowledge the blood on his hands, causing his stomach to churn. The boy usually developed a sweating fever and had diarrhea for a few days after a mission which irked Dr. Ootori to no end.

Pan bit his bottom lip to stop its trembling before asking, "Do you think I'm weak?"

"No, of course not, our model isn't like Manny's. We aren't lesser because we aren't wired to enjoy killing like he does. I think being able to do what we must despite hating it makes us the stronger ones," Rush consoled his brother with a squeeze to his shoulder.

Pan gave him a slight, insecure smile before Rush began to speak again, "You endured more than most of us. You are the strongest of all the fours."

Russia shook his head and sighed heavily. The macabre atmosphere of the previously splendid Ootori mansion was taking a toll on him. "Look, I want to help you, but I can't take this anymore. I'm going to go find Eden. Just kill him and come with me, Brother."

"No, I'm going to go back to Meri," Pan answered, shaking his head solemnly.

"What about daddy?" Rush inquired.

"Don't worry about him," the beautiful, young man began, "I'll take care of him. You go find Eden. I'll either be at the research compound with Meri or she'll come to the mountain with me. Come find me."

* * *

**Hikaru**

Hikaru had removed the solar panel and rappelled his way back down to the ground. He was rounding the corner to add his find to the group's wagon when he felt a sharp, sudden pain in his back. Letting out a loud yelp, he hit the ground, realizing he had been struck him with a blunt object. When his training kicked in, no one was more surprised than Hikaru himself. Before the bat could come down on him again, the young ginger rolled out of the way and quickly kicked his attacker's feet out from under him. The thug fell backwards on his rear, and the momentum made his head smack the ground with a thunk. Unfortunately, these types tend to travel in packs, so as soon as he got to his feet, two other people came on him from two different sides.

One of his attackers was a young boy no older than thirteen, and the other was a young man of about twenty. Glancing over to the assailant knocked unconscious on the ground, Hikaru could tell it was a teenaged girl.

"Just give us the panel, and we won't hurt you," the older male said, but the menacing look on his face, indicated he was clearly lying.

"You already hurt me," Hikaru replied, "No one was using that building, so the panel is fair game."

"True, thank you for getting it for us. Now leave it and walk away," the man said with a smirk.

Hikaru took a defensive stance, but the thug didn't react. He seemed too confident which keyed the twin into the real threat. Jumping back, he narrowly missed getting shanked with a sharp object by the young teen. Hikaru managed to grab the boy's arm and was disarming him as he had been trained when the older man stepped forward and hit the auburn haired boy in the side of the head with a rock.

"Ugh," Hikaru gasped, knowing he had gotten his bell rung pretty good. He stumbled back against the wall of the building behind him and sunk down, unable to steady himself as he tried to focus his blurry vision. He could hear them coming for him, so Hikaru put his hands up over his face and attempted to steady himself.

Just as the twin felt someone touch him, he heard a familiar voice, "Can you hear me, Hitachiin?" Those were the last words he heard before everything went black.

* * *

**Kyoya and Tamaki**

Tamaki could still speak albeit slowly, "What did you do to me?" Tears slowly slipped from his eyes.

"Nothing bad. It's just a high power muscle relaxer. I need you to be still and not go crazy on me while I do what needs to be done. You won't care for it much at first," Meri replied as she reached back in the nightstand and produced a sharp razor blade.

Tamaki started to scream, but fear kept him quiet. Making noise hadn't changed anything the last time he was attacked, so he didn't think it would help now either. The young man watched pitifully awaiting what was to come until Meri gritted her teeth and cut a large gash on the palm of her own hand.

Utterly confused, Tamaki nearly choked on his own saliva, "What the hell!"

She shushed him soothingly, and reached for his hand with her uninjured hand, "Come on, I won't hurt you."

Holding her bleeding palm upright, she used her free hand to dip her finger into the blood and rub it into the vicious looking gash between Tamaki's thumb and forefinger as well as the raw, defensive wounds on his knuckles and any other injuries she found.

Tamaki was disgusted but too weak to stop her from rubbing her warm, red blood onto his open sores. Still crying, the blonde boy shrieked, "What in the Hell is wrong with you! You are one messed up girl!"

Not offended at all, Meri began, "Nanotechnology and some genetically enhanced enzymes give me rapid healing capabilities to make me harder to kill. Doesn't stop the pain though. Oh, and the enzymes make you naseous as hell if you get really messed up. Don't ask me how it works, because I couldn't tell you. I never cared to learn. Chi can explain it if you can follow her without falling asleep."

Tamaki was sure he was trapped underground with and at the mercy of a psychopath until he saw the difference in his hand a short time later. His injuries weren't completely healed, but they were much improved.

Her free hand grasping his shoulder, Meri easily lifted him to sit upright as she began to. treated a number of bruises on his back. Laying him back down gently, "Anywhere else?" She asked, the way she held her big, brown eyes reminded him of Haruhi for just a couple of seconds.

"None anywhere you would want to touch," He said as he held on tight to the towel covering his hips.

Meri ran her finger down his chest slowly, "I really like your torso. You're very lean but not too skinny."

Tamaki was shivering, feeling even more exposed and embarrassed. Meri noted with interest the rapid change in her guest's skin color. His body turned two shades pinker, and his cheeks shone red like two, ripe cherries. As her eyes widened with wonder, the young girl decided the color change suited her new pet very well.

"Can I see you?" She asked with curiosity rather than lust, picking at the edge of the towel.

Tamaki's breathing hitched, but he didn't balk. Instead, he closed his eyes as Meri removed the towel from over his body. She stood back and looked him over like someone at a museum regarding a painting.

"You're pretty!" She said, her eyes returning to his as her free hand wiped away his tears.

Normally, Tamaki would have lapped up the compliment like a hungry kitten with a bowl of sweet creme, but not today. Being called 'pretty', bothered the former host a lot. He felt like he was being compared to a girl. Being sexually assaulted had gutted his self confidence, turning the narcissistic, princely-type into an insecure and hollow shell of his former self.

"My wound is closing, Puppy, and even though it heals quickly, it still hurts like a bitch when I slice myself open, so let's go ahead and get you fixed up," she added.

Tamaki was still in pain, and he feared be might be bleeding down there a little bit. Feeling so wretched, used up and disgusting, the young man didn't want anyone to touch him at all, much less in such a private area. Feeling dizzy and nauseated, Tamaki started thinking choking to death on his own vomit might not be so bad. Then he thought about women who were brave enough to go to the hospital and report an assault and decided he should be courageous too.

"We can stop here, but soreness and a limp will be harsh reminders come tomorrow. Don't you worry about me. I have cleaned three days worth of human waste and dried-up blood from my brother's body after he endured a brutal whipping followed by three days in the box. If you prefer, I can put the blood on your finger. It will work the same if you treat yourself," She offered.

Tamaki flinched when Meri's mentioned her brother's treatment and wandered if he was still around. The girl's free hand was pressed against his chest now as she awaited his instructions. Not being the only one stripped to bare all would have given the older teen some comfort, but the younger teen's nudity was having an effec On his body. Even though Tamaki's towel had been returned, the terry cloth fabric did a poor job of keeping secrets. The young man wondered if Meri had any idea what she was doing by walking around undressed in front

"The drug doesn't last long. You should be able to move a little easier now," she said, "So, you or me?"

Tamaki's body was lighter but still difficult to control, and he didn't want to hurt himself. Leaning his head up less than an inch off the bed, he nodded twice in her direction. After getting him to roll on his side, Meri's free hand caressed Tamaki gently across his shoulders and back, allowing him to lose himself in the comforting touch as if his mind had separated from his body. He hardly registered what was going on until he felt a slight jolt and whimpered in discomfort as his hostess carefully nursed her new friend's hidden wounds. Tears stung Tamaki's eyes again, more from embarrassment than pain.

"All done," his hostess said before she went to the bathroom sink and washed her hands.

As soon as Meri stopped touching him, Tamaki started to feel dirty and depressed again. of him. Returning with his clothes, the teenaged girl stopped short, acknowledging a development she had previously chosen to ignore. Gesturing to where the towel was straining to cover Tamaki's manhood, Meri offered, "I can help...if you like. I need to wash the blood off of you too," she held up a couple of damp wash cloths.

Squeaking like a mouse, the humiliated blonde, placed his hands down in a futile attempt to cover his erection. Watching Meri's face as she looked him over, Tamaki pondered her odd expression. It seemed as if she was regarding his most private area the same as if she was looking at his hand or neck. The older blonde realized such behavior was the result of something much more pathological than just immaturity. Tamaki found himself fascinated as he wondered what Her existence in this strange place must have been like to shape such an usual mind-set.

'Had she always lived here, even before The Long Night?'

Nothing made sense about her, but nothing in the world made sense to Tamaki anymore. After wiping his face and any easily accessible places on his body, he returned the cloth to allow Meri to get his back. Picking up a fresh, wet cloth, she handed it to Tamaki and focused her attention on the boy's back and shoulders as he cleaned his nether regions.

Meri turned back around and collected the dirty wash cloths throwing them down a laundry chute built into the room. Tamaki watched as the chute was activated and actually sucked the linens up thru a large tube, leading he guessed to a laundry room. Whle the blonde girl slipped into the bathroom to wash her hands again, Tamaki lost his courage. He was crying again, thinking about how, where and why Meri touched him.

When the girl returned he whimpered, "How did you know? Is it that obvious that I was someone's bitch?"

"Well yeah," Meri replied bluntly without bothering with the normal, comforting remarks or reassurances most humans would offer. The girl, not even realizing she was being insensitive, continued, "but probably only to me." The girl laughed inappropriately. Tamaki was not amused, but he realize she didn't know any better.

"I saw you in the tub...the scrubbing. It was just how I felt the first time. I was just trying to help," Meri explained with a shrug.

"First time?" Tamaki wondered if the same man had attacked Meri.

"There were a lot of times. I can tell you all about it later, but I think it might make you feel better if I end the rest of your suffering first," she nodded her head towards Tamaki's arousal. Although the forward nature of he offer completely mortified the handsome boy, he was still a curious, hormonal teenager with something to prove to himself.

Relieved to have full control of his muscles again, Tamaki scanned the length of Meri's body once more. She wasn't cute like Haruhi, but she had a jaunty appeal and a nice body. Raising up he grabbed her around the waist and flipped her so her back was against the mattress. Now the older blonde hovered over her.

Staring down at the girl, Tamaki was nervous. "I've never done this before," he admitted sheepishly.

Meri's reaction was mild, only smiling sweetly before she said, "Don't worry. You'll like it a lot. It feels good, warm and wet." Taken aback by the simplicity of her straight-forward statement, the young man's face heated up yet again, turning his cheeks a deep shade of raspberry this time.

Opening and her legs and bending her knees, Meri coaxed Tamaki's to claim her body. Leaning down he pressed his lips against hers, but to his surprise, she objected, pushing away and turning her face from him.

"What are you doing?!" She gasped, her eyes wide with horror.

"I was just giving you a kiss," Tamaki replied, flabbergasted and discouraged by her reaction.

"We're not sup...the rules...it's against...You'll get beaten," she stuttered and stammered before pausing a moment. Remembering her new found freedom, Meri laughed before she replied, "Sorry, I guess there are no rules anymore. Let's try that again."

Dr. Ootori broke his own rules and kissed Meri fairly often, but his kisses never seemed real to her, and luckily, he wasn't a fan of open mouth kissing. The disgust she felt drove her to separate her mind from her body when the old hentia touched her. As if she was playing a video game, she watching the interaction and pressed the right buttons to control her avatar. Sex with Dr. Ootori was just another mission to complete. Sadly, she wasn't given Rophenol to forget like she was after real missions.

Delightfully pulling her back to the present, Tamaki captured Meri's lips, happily teaching his new lover the fine art of kissing. She felt a jolt of electricity as soon as their lips made contact. The passionate young man started off gently but soon his kisses tasted of urgency and lust. Meri reveled in the feeling of his mouth hungrily claiming hers, and when the handsome blonde parted her lips and slipped his tongue into her mouth to seductively stroke and twist her own, all she could think was, 'more! more! more!'

The sensation was like the 4th of July in her mouth, exciting and exhilarating. The kissing added a hint of intimacy to the sharing of their bodies, making it feel so different from the nonchalant sex she had always engaged in with Pan or Manny. Perhaps the loving feeling of closeness created by kissing was why the evil doctor forbid the practice.

Meri moaned as she felt the former host club king skillfully turning her mouth into an artist's studio. Her lover's tongue was the paintbrush, stroking each kiss into a masterpiece and causing the area between Meri's legs to warm up and become wet. Not able to wait any longer, the brown-eyed blonde reached out and found her prize, making the older blonde break from the kiss and let loose his own loud moan of pure pleasure. Quickly positioning him, she wrapped her legs around Tamaki and guided him inside her welcoming womanhood.

Tamaki grunted, "uuuhhh," as he felt himself slide into a tight pool of slick heat. Panting furiously, he tried to get enough oxygen to accommodate his body's heightened arousal. Meri's vague description of what he would feel did not come close to doing the incredible sensation justice. Every nerve ending below his waist fired off electrical currents, setting his pleasure sensors ablaze. Tamaki's heart pounded and sweat glistened on his skin as the reaction of the woman beneath him started to make him feel like a man again. The first-timer began slowly, not so much to be gentle but to keep himself from losing it and coming undone too rapidly, but when Meri began to move to meet his movements, he couldn't help but increase speed.

"Meri!" he panted in a husky whisper, "We have to slow down, or I won't be able to hold back."

"If you would speed up a little, you won't need to," she replied, her breathing labored but more controlled than his.

"Oh!" he replied with enthusiasm while increasing speed.

Feeling his lover's body tense and her hold on him tighten as she spasmed, Tamaki found his own release, screaming, "I love you," before collapsing on top of Meri.

Not really sure how to respond to such a declaration from someone she had not only just meet but also considered something like a pet, the younger blonde pondered the notion. The girl's last pet had been a kitten she raised for a year. Meri named her buttons and loved her more than anything or anyone except for China.

Exactly one year from the day Meri was given Buttons to raise, the girl completed her first phase of maturation treatment, reaching a physical maturity somewhere around eleven years old. Cuddling her cat, the tween was sitting on the floor anxiously imagining what she knew to be the next phase, the painful process of installing her data port, when Mother approached.

"Hello Dreama," Meri replied without thinking but quickly corrected herself, "Sorry! I mean Mother...so sorry!"

To her utter surprise, the older girl didn't slap her. Instead she gave a smile that never reached her eyes before replying, "Congratulations, you're almost a woman, Meri."

The little blonde nodded and told her thank you before Mother spoke again, "Today is a special day for that cat too."

"How so?" Meri hooked her finger around the cats collar, terrified Buttons would be taken away from her.

"It's her birthday!"

"Really?" Meri squealed with delight, "Can we make a cake?"

"Already done. It's time for her suprise party now," Mother motioned for the girl to follow her. When the door shut behind her and the lights came on, Meri realized she had been tricked.

Mother had locked her and Buttons in a barren, stark white room with a hard, cold floor, four thick walls, and a very high ceiling. Although she was furious at herself for being duped, she wasn't too upset. Training simulations often entailed finding a way to escape locked rooms. However, after trying everything, including blooding her knuckles to a pulp, punching a deep, fist-sized dent in the solid metal door, Meri was crazed with a mixture of panic and rage.

Pounding holes in the sheetrock of the wall, Meri's already raw and abused fists were greeted by a reinforcement of cement just before she heard instructions blare over the intercom in Mother's cold voice,_ "Kill the cat. You may leave this room only after you kill the cat."_

After twelve hours, when Mother was sure Meri was good and hungry, the sadist spoke over the intercom again, _"Kill the cat. You will not be fed until you kill the cat."_

At the twenty-four hour mark, _"Kill the cat. You will be given water only after you kill the cat."_

Meri had been in the room for thirty-six hours when Mother's evil voice boomed through the speaker just before flashing of many-colored strobe lights began,_ "You are worthless if you can not follow orders. You are an assassin and a warrior, nothing but a killer. Don't delude yourself into believing otherwise. Assassins and soldiers don't get to choose who they kill. Interrogators have no say in who they torture. Kill...the...cat. You will be punished until you kill the cat."_

Twelve hours later Meri was issued another warning and a loud siren went off for about twenty minutes and then at random times, most notably when Meri fell asleep. On day four the cat was nearly dead from dehydration, the room reeked of cat feces and human waste and Meri was hungry, thirsty and exhausted. She wasn't even sure how long she had been locked away anymore, but she knew but her eyes could no longer produce tears when she cried. Buttons was so weak she could barely move.

Meri picked up the cat and cuddled it in her arms gingerly, laying it in her lap to stroke its fur. As she lovingly stroked the top of Buttons head and contemplated the least painful way to kill her, a better solution to her dilemma came to her.

The long, sliding door presented itself as nothing but a sheet of thick metal, but there had to be a locking mechanism somewhere. Physically and mentally drained, Meri crawled over to the door and stuck her hand in one of the holes she'd punched nearby. Pain radiated down her arm as nails and bits of jagged sheetrock scrapped her, but she continued, stretching her arm until she felt the end of the door. She would have to bloody her now healed knuckles again to punch at least one more big hole in the wall, but she would gladly rip her fingernails out one by one to pass the simulation without killing buttons.

With diligence and an abundance of pain, Meri plowed her fist through the wall again and again until she found the place where the door latched. Enduring two broken fingers and the loss of quite a bit of her fingertips' skin, she managed to disrupt the locking mechanism, causing the electric sensor to open the door. Grabbing Buttons she rushed to the door only to be greeted by a smirking Mother holding a gun to the head of Meri's handcuffed sister.

Nanotechnology was too expensive to waste on mental models, so Meri was forced to choose between Buttons and China. The physical pain of her broken bones slowly snapping back in place was nothing compared to the punch in the gut of having victory close enough to taste but only long enough to graze it's sweetness with her tongue before it turned to ash in her mouth. Defeated, Meri placed her hand over the cat's face and was gifted with a bitter consolation prize. Careful not to let her face betray her, the girl snapped the neck of Button's recently expired body. At great personal cost, Meri had won. The cat's fate was sealed as soon as the door slammed shut, but in the end, it was not Meri but dehydration that had claimed Button's life.

In a way the girl envied the cat. Somethings are worse than death. Buttons died in the arms of someone who loved her, but Meri would find no such relief. Her love for her siblings would continue to be used against her for as long as they were trapped in the compound. Fooled, Mother had failed far worse than she could have ever imagined. She failed to break Meri, and now the girl knew winning was possible. She just had to get better at it.

Besides putting her in her place, Meri wondered if training exercise was intended to have other implications. 'Was it also suppose to teach her never to love?' The notion confused the tween, since love for each other was the only thing keeping the siblings from killing everyone in their path to escape.

'Did love make you stronger or weaker?' Meri pondered, 'Perhaps the real underlying lesson was not to get too attached to pets, only family matter.' She never did quite figure it out.

Enchanted by the warm and new sensation of intimacy, Meri decided to take a risk and allow herself to love a pet again. Responding in kind, she ran her hand through the locks of the young man resting his head on her breasts and purred, "Love you too, Puppy."

Flush with post-coital bliss and besieged by Meri's chemical charms, Tamaki kissed his new lover before pledging his undying love. Keenly perceptive, the younger teen realized her naive lover was unconsciously grasping at her as a way to cope with his desperate longing to see himself as the beautiful, untainted man he had been before he was violated. Still, Meri was too twisted to care how misguided the boy's feelings were, so she accepted them.

"I'm hungry, Puppy. Get up and get dressed, so we can eat," the younger blonde commanded, rolling the cuddlier off of her, "Chi should have finished making dinner soon."

"Chi? Oh, your sister," he responded, "Can't we cuddle a little more?"

"Yeah, my sister, and yes, but just for a minute. Giving up my blood takes a toll, and I'm famished."

Then almost as an after thought, Meri answered his previous question, "I wanted to burn my skin off with acid the first time Dr. Ootori put part of his filthy body in mine."

Tamaki was silent as he slowly took in what had been said. Somehow he wasn't shocked. He wondered if Kyoya would be more or even less surprised when he learned.

* * *

**Mori and Honey**

"Who are you?" Takashi asked his prisoners, his sword unsheathed. Although only in their twenties and late teens, the intruders were hardened, young men, tattoos and scars abounded. They had angry, narrow-eyed expressions of swagger on their faces and looked too confident for Eden's liking.

"Ah Hell! Diversion tactic, secure them fast and search everywhere," Eden holstered a second gun Honey had taken from the intruders and high-tailed it back towards the trees, shimming back up fast.

Spotting a man attempting to climb in a window, Eden put a bullet right thru his stomach, dropping him immediately. Scanning the area, she saw Honey flipping to dodge a bullet.

Honey had taken down armed assailants before, so he wasn't worried. As the blades he'd thrown penetrated his opponent's leg, he heard gun shots and his attacker's head began spurting blood. The expert fighter jumped back and his eyes flickering up to see Eden's smoking gun. Apparently she didn't fancy taking any more prisoners.

As Takashi's lover hurried down from the trees, Honey was disturbed to see how jubilant she was as she ran into Mori's open arms. His best friend didn't seem to notice her blood lust as he pulled Eden tight and planted a kiss on her lips.

Surveying the damage, Takashi sliced the head off the man Eden shot in the stomach. He was still alive but bleeding out and gurgling blood, so Mori put him out of his misery. Honey noted the perplexed expression on Eden's face as her man delivered his mercy, but the tiny boy wasn't sure what if anything he should say anything.

"Where?" Takashi asked Honey, wanting to know where to hold the survivors.

Smiling brightly and apparently enjoying herself, Eden whispered, "I want to play good cop."

"OK," Mori replied, not looking to Honey before answering this time. The smaller boy studied his friend's face. After Takashi brought Eden to the camp and began sharing his bed with her, Honey had been genuinely happy for his friend. Now he was frightened for his cousin and wondered how Takashi could not see that his girlfriend was no girl next door.

Clearly, Eden was a competent solider. Her skill with a gun may not be particularly impressive, but it wasn't luck that gave her the confidence, balance and strategic knowledge she displayed. Takashi's lady had been thoroughly trained by someone. Still, as concerned as he was for his best friend and cousin, close proximity to the blonde beauty always seemed to purge Honey's mind of such thoughts and reinforce his friendly affection for her.

* * *

**Kirimi**

Peacock blue eyes flashed in anger as Manny reached out and took the girl's hand. He noted with displeasure the red marks around her tiny, pink wrist. Kirimi's shook as tears blurred her vision and rolled down her cheeks.

"I said no one was to lay a finger on her!" the aryan-featured man roared, "Who dared defy me?!"

"She was being a little pain in the ass, so I grabbed her by the wrist and gave her a couple of good smacks across her little butt," an older teenager with a scar above his right eye replied.

"Oh, sorry Asami," Manny apologized as he dropped Kirmi's hand, "I didn't realize she was getting on your nerves." The group's leader instructed the little girl to sit in the corner facing the wall until he told her she could move.

The blonde man was fond of his crimson-haired lover, but he preferred his other sister. Manny was smart enough to know his feelings for Meri were artificially induced, but she was far better stock than Britta. He was confident Meri would forget about Pan and come back to him once he built a great republic for them to rule.

While he had no problem being vicious and brutal when the situation called for it, the blue-eyed, blonde appreciated beauty and entertainment, and his little friend, Kirimi, provided both. She was the picture of what he imagined a daughter of his with Meri would look like, and he intended to raise the child as his own. Manny had planned to send Asami on a dangerous fool's errand as soon as Britta returned, but the degenerate's assault on Kirimi had precipitated the need to make an example of him.

Like a lone bolt of lightening striking above the ocean's crashing waves, the fury on the face of the ash blonde disappeared. Manny smiled gregariously and gave a slight nod as he lit a cigarette and extended his hand to the other young man, "Take it, Asami. A smoke will do you good."

Asami was a gang leader who spent most of his life in and out of homes for abandoned children or one prison or another, and he feared no one. When Manny found him half starved and still locked in his cell at the juvenile detention center, the raven-haired career criminal still had attitude to spare. In fact, Manny thought he would be challenged for dominance right then, but the young thug had been too smart to fight in his weakened state. Britta and her brother made use of Asami long enough to get the other detention center prisoners in hand, but once the fifty-seven, young men were loyal to them, the thug became a liability.

A crooked smile lingered over his dark features as Asami regarded Manny's natural good looks and luminous expression. The brunette had practically ruled juvenile hall for the past two years and was familiar with all kinds of cons, but Asami had never come across someone as charismatic as the man he stared down now.

Although he had to admire the man's intelligence and ability to get things done, Asami still hated Manny's guts. Sitting on the sidelines, he had watched as the foreigner and his sexy red-headed woman had secured large quantities of food and a clean water source, gathered weapons and more than tripled their numbers. Asami wanted a larger role within the hierarchy, but Manny had passed him over, choosing others to serve as his lieutenants. When the blonde not only failed to select him to lead a mission to infiltrate a rival group's compound but refused to even let him volunteer to participate, he found the slight overwhelming.

Asami noticed that Manny's favorites got more food, better job assignments and the best living accommodations. The lack of equality didn't bother the former gang member, but what pissed him off was being passed over by so many less worthy men. Even the annoying, little, Russian-Japanese brat was held in higher regard than him, and Asami was no longer planning on standing for it. He had put some feelers out to his boys, and they had scored enough sedatives to drug Manny and his guards long enough to slit his throat while he slept. Tonight the foreigner would die.

Cutting his eyes to the right, Asami smiled at his old friend, Riji, before reaching out to take the smoke Manny was offering. His over confidence had been his undoing. The excruciating pain scourged his hand and wrist before the attack even registered with the young man. With his crushed hand hanging limply from his broken wrist, Asami had only one hand to shield himself from Manny's retribution, but a rabbit would have had a better chance shielding itself from a badger. After putting out the cigarette on Asami's tongue, Manny chuckled as he spun the man around to face Riji who smirked as he held up the stash of sedatives in front of his former friend's face.

"Well, what have you got there, Riji?" Manny asked mockingly, obviously already in the know.

Riji snickered, "Just some sedatives."

"Hmmm, that's a lot of drugs. I bet you could have killed me in my sleep with all those," Manny snarked as he pushed the treacherous Asami against the wall. Defiant until the very end, the man declined to beg. His eyes burned with hatred as Manny strangled the life from him with just one hand.

"Riji, burn that for me," Manny commanded as he motioned to the corpse. Without missing a beat, he strode over and picked up Kirmi, making sure to face her away from the lifeless body.

"Sorry, I scolded you, Sweetie, but that mean man will never touch you again," Manny cooed as he toted the girl off, "Big brother is going to let you pick something from the candy stash."

* * *

**Kyoya and Tamaki**

After Kyoya dressed in the pastel blue operating scrubs the strange blonde gave him, he exited the bathroom to find a small, Asian girl waiting in the adjoining bedroom. Initially, the young Ootori mistook her for a child, but he soon realized she was only child-like. Finding a stranger waiting for him had been startling, but she offered no apology, saying only, "I am China. Follow me for dinner."

Once they entered the dinning area, Kyoya sat down in front of a place setting while his new hostess ladled rice on his plate and poured a separate ladle of stew over the rice. "Go ahead, eat," she said.

Kyoya was starving and hadn't had a hot meal in quite awhile. He wanted to tear into the food which he suspected contained meat, but he was still the ever cautious Shadow King.

"Where is Tamaki, and where is the other girl?" the onyx-haired man asked.

"They will be along as soon as Meri finishes licking the boy's wounds, I suppose. That one loves an injured bird, but that doesn't mean she won't still pluck and fry it later," the unsettling girl giggled, giving Kyoya the creeps.

Raising an eyebrow as she glared at Kyoya, China scoffed, "You look surprised, and I feel your mind judging me. You have the codes, so you must have known him. Did you expect the brilliant and always malevolent Dr. Yoshio Ootori to make his creations with a sense of morality that matches your own?"

Kyoya's expression remained neutral even after hearing the truth in what his hostess said. He simply replied, "You aren't eating?"

China let out a guttural laughter, "Clever, clever," she said, picking up her own fork and eating a mouthful from Kyoya's plate before handing him his own utensil, "If we wanted to kill you, we would have sucked all the air from the decontamination room instead of flooding it with water."

Relieved, Kyoya dug into his food with a fury. Tamaki and the other girl arrived to join them for the meal after what seemed like forever to Suoh's spectacle-clad friend. Noticing the blonde girl's small, thin fingers intwined with the fingers of Tamaki's left hand gave the youngest Ootori a hint as to what took the two so long. Kyoya wasn't sure how to feel about the revelation. Getting close to these two girls was likely to be a big mistake, but the happy expression on his goofy, blonde friend's face was worth almost anything after what happened to him.

Their two hostesses engaged in playful banter and mysterious conversation as the two of them slowly ate small amounts of food. Meantime while lapping up every morsel from their own plates, the two boys didn't say a word except when asking for seconds or answering in the affirmative when offered thirds.

Once Kyoya and Tamaki had their bellies filled, the two sat back and regarded the two girls who fed them. Kyoya would never admit or allow his face to show how spooked yet fascinated he was by the two. The youngest Ootori had to find out everything he could about this research facility, who these women were and why his father had 'created' them. He also needed to find Dreama.

Tamaki just wanted to stay with the girl who could make him feel better. His spirits were higher now than they had been since the weeks before the red death ravaged the world.

"Who is or was she?" the small Asian girl asked.

"Excuse me?" Kyoya replied.

The brown-haired beauty with the green bow. She's on your mind," Chi spit out, barely looking up from her rabbit stew. Kyoya nearly choked, looked at his hostess as if she were some type of witch.

"Rrrrr...enge, he began. Did you tell them about her, Tamaki?" the stunned brunette asked. Tamaki shook his head but didn't seem at all shocked that one of his hostess seemed able to read minds.

"Chi's an empath. Your father was a brilliant man who found a way to unlock dormant areas of the brain," Meri smiled at the brunette boy, lovingly and with familiarity.

China dropped her silverware and glared at Kyoya, "Father?"

Kyoya wasn't sure he believed the girl could read his mind, but just in case, he decided to tell the truth. Lying to an empath would be futile, so he simply nodded.

"Well, you certainly think you are telling the truth, but I know both of the Ootori brothers, and you aren't one of them," China retorted.

"Kyoya's the third son," Tamaki explained. China seemed unconvinced, glancing over to her smiling sister as if expecting an explanation.

Meri stood up, making her way around the table before stopping behind Kyoya. The teenaged Ootori was scared for his life but frozen to his seat. The blonde girl placed a hand on his shoulder. Her touch was warm and comforting, so much so, that Kyoya didn't even flinch when Meri said, "Isn't it obvious, Chi? He's one of us."

"Huh?" the dark haired girl replied.

A second generation half-bred, but still one of us. It's been a long time, but I recognize him now. He doesn't remember me or this place because Daddy always roofied him after he brought him here for testing. I've meet Kyoya a few times. We use to play Battleship and Monopoly together. I always won Battleship, but he always won the latter."

China simply nodded, looking at the boy sympathetically now, "You are sure he isn't like the other two?"

"You should be able to determine his nature way better than me," Meri cut her eyes at China as if she was losing patience. The younger girl never liked being questioned.

Both boys were uncomfortable at this point, but only Tamaki showed it. Kyoya kept his cool on the outside. He had so many questions, but he was afraid to ask any of them.

"Now look what you've done, Sis. You upset my puppy!" Meri admonished. Tamaki didn't react.

Kyoya, now more angry than scared, finally spoke up, directing his statement towards his best friend, "I think she means you."

"Huh?" Tamaki looked even more unaffected by the comment.

"He's not an animal nor is he yours to play with like a pet," Kyoya snapped.

"Well, well, this one does have feelings after all," China interjected, "I'm glad to see it, because he's nearly as hard to read as you, Meri. What he's thinking is clear, but how he feels about it..." China's smirk was annoying to everyone at the table.

"Puppy is just a term of endearment. She...she loves me," Tamaki replied, completely unaware of how ridiculous he sounded.

Kyoya simply closed his eyes and took a deep breath. Realizing his big, blonde idiot must have just had his first consensual sex, he deciding to allow the boy to hold on to his delusion for now.

"Forget our dear brother for now and direct your attention towards Tamaki. I need you to draw a picture of his attacker," Meri replied, making Tamaki gasp and Kyoya nearly choke on the tea he just sipped.

Ignoring the reactionary sounds around her, "No need," Chi replied, "It was those low class Kondo brother's that run that piece of crap trading station between the two closest clusters of live ones."

Tamaki looked horrified. The mere thought of that bastard made him want to vomit up everything he had just eaten. Standing up and backing away from the table, the disgusted, blonde man cried out angrily, "What the hell is wrong with you?! Why would you even bring him up?! Are you trying to torture me?!"

The boy's incensed tirade confounded Meri who had just wanted to do something nice for him. Shaking her head, she replied with a small amount of hurt in her voice, "Of course not, but I have to know who to look for before I can kill him for you."

His cobalt blue and lilac eyes widened while the color darkened to a deep eggplant. Before Tamaki could reply, Chi added, "and rescue that pretty girl back from them too."

Kyoya's neck snapped towards the Asian girl. Ignoring the fact that his other hostess had just proposed murder, "You think she's still alive?"

"Baka, even the Kondo's are smart enough to know you don't just throw away a valuable commodity," the older girl answered with a laugh.

Tamaki was still upset. Kyoya had never seen such a look on the boy's face, not even when Haruhi was threatened. His fists clenched at his sides and his jaw tight, the young man seethed and glared at China as she laughed.

Through gritted teeth Tamaki spoke, "I fought those bastards with everything I had, and they...," swallowing hard and shuttering before he continued, pointing his finger at Meri, "You may heal fast, but you are still a girl! Can you even fight? What makes you think the two of you would have a chance against them?"

Meri stared at her lover with stunned silence before replying, "Just trust me."

"What! Are you kidding me? They will just grab you or China this time and make Kyoya and I surrender. Then they will..." Tamaki trailed off and shot China a death glare, because she was laughing at him, "Shut up! It's not funny!"

Shooting China a look that carried the warning of a slap across the mouth, Meri waited until her sister stifled herself before she replied, "Please calm down and listen a minute, Puppy? First off, China will be nowhere near the action. Second, Puppy, when you fought the Kondo's, did the brandish any guns?"

"They had knifes," Tamaki whined.

His face had lost its anger but his bottom lip was sticking out in a pout. He looked more like a scolded toddler than a furious man now. Annoyed as he realized his new girlfriend was manipulating him with her feel good mojo, all Tamaki could do was stand with his chin resting on fist as he listened.

"Knives? So what? Only police and the military can carry guns in Japan, so even now they're hard to come by." Looking to Kyoya before she continued, "That would be why your dad employed his own police force."

"Your point?" Kyoya replied without emotion.

"Look around, smart ass. Who do you think they were guarding? Honestly, did you really think your father used them just to protect his family?" Meri shook her head at him condescendingly, "A lot of them were always here. They had quarters, training areas, a shooting gallery and an arsenal of weapons."

"I see, and if the three of them rush you at once? You can't hit all three before they reach you," Kyoya folded his arms and leaned back in his chair, his eyes never leaving America's gaze.

Rolling her eyes and chortling, "Actually, depending on how far away they were, I probably could with most guns, but I definitely could with an assault weapon. Anyway, I'll have back-up. China will be nearby with a sniper riffle equipped with a red dot scope. I probably won't even carry a gun."

Looking at the two girls now and processing all that had been said, Kyoya spoke, "Hmm, that could work. I'm in, and I'm a decent shot...my body guard taught me. I want Tamaki away from the action as well."

"Standing...right... here," Tamaki huffed before adding, "I'm **not** a fucking pussy."

Kyoya had raised his finger and opened his mouth to interject until Tamaki dropped his last sentence, causing the young Ootori to make a double take before his jaw dropped. His best friend barely ever cursed and now he was dropping the F-bomb and using crude names for women's body parts. The Tamaki he knew would never say such a thing in front of two girls. 'What the Hell?'

"Uhh..umm, right, OK then. Fill us in on the parameters and particulars of what, where and who we are facing. Afterwards we can brainstorm and come up with the best rescue plan," Kyoya replied after regaining some composure.

"Extraction and assassination plan," Meri corrected, clapping her hands excitedly like a baby who had just mastered pat-a-cake.


	5. Friends, Lovers, Allies and Enemies

**World's End**

**Chapter Four - Friends, Lovers, Allies and Enemies **

**Rated M - for language, dark themes, violence, and sexual content**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Ouran High School Host Club nor am affiliated with them in anyway. Please do not sue me.**

* * *

**Kyoya and Tamaki**

While formulating a plan to rescue Renge, the group of four sat around the table where they had shared a meal. China sketched out a diagram of the Kondo's home as best she could from her memory. She had only seen it once when she and Meri had gone out exploring with Pan and Ari. It was just a few days after the siblings' coup had put Mother in a cage, but she remembered enough to pinpoint the lay of the area.

Meri's first plan was soundly rejected by both young men. "Hell no! That's a horrible idea," Tamaki insisted.

Kyoya agreed, asking, "Why would you possibly want to confront them alone?"

"If I go alone, I don't have to worry about any of you getting hurt. You just  
wait at the designated coordinates until I return with the girl," Meri intoned as if her explanation was utterly obvious.

Tamaki was struck by how silent Chi had been on the subject and decided to call her on it, "Please tell her. Those three will not hesitate to attack her. They will probably just take her captive too."

"Well, if we're lucky, they will," China replied, shocking both boys.

Tamaki gasped and gave the Asian girl an incredulous look, "That's not funny!"

"She's not trying to be funny. She's right. It's best case, really. They will likely secure me in the same place as your friend. They sleep; I escape, kill them while they slumber, and return to the coordinates with her," the blonde girl replied giving a bright, close-lipped smile.

Tamaki blew out a sharp breath. Meri seemed to be taking the prospect of facing his attackers way too lightly, frustrating the young man beyond the point of annoyance and closing in on anger.

"Just stop it with your simplistic answers. Escape? Just like that? They will rape you!" Tamaki's expression was grim as he raised his voice.

"Probably and that will suck, but I'd just Sun Tzu them, and then they wouldn't even see it coming once I had the girl free..." Meri began before Tamaki interrupted.

"Sun Tzu them?" Tamaki asked.

Chi began to explain but Kyoya spoke up first, "To paraphrase, when you are strong, appear weak. When you are brave, appear fearful. Sun Tzu wrote The Art of War. The strategies are helpful in business too. I'm surprised you haven't read it."

Tamaki was growing more angry by the second. "Who cares about a damn book! Meri, are you saying you'll have sex with anyone as long as it suits your purpose?" The blonde, young man asked. The anger giving way to hurt was apparent in his voice but lost on his lover.

"Yes," Meri replied stoically before Tamaki stood up, his fists clenched to his sides and his head tilted towards the floor as he walk out on the group. Kyoya had seen this stance before, and it was several steps past sulking for his friend.

Before Meri could react, Kyoya stood up to go after him, "I'll speak to him."

Finding Tamaki sitting on the bed he had just recently shared with Meri, Kyoya sat down next to his friend. The young Suoh was already near tears, so his friend decided to keep quiet and wait for him to speak.

The blonde man ran his hand through the front of his hair and held the locks tightly for a few seconds in an attempt to keep a grip on his sanity. He knew he had been acting like a childish, lovesick middle schooler, but the feeling of being desirable to a woman was what was keeping him together. He needed it, and now he doubted she really wanted him at all.

"I'm an idiot, thinking she loved me. Why did she...," Tamaki muttered.

"While I normally would agree that you are an idiot," Kyoya began with a tease in and attempt to lighten the mood, "I actually think she cares for you," Kyoya replied.

"Don't patronize me," Tamaki demanded, shooting his ebony-haired friend a sharp look.

"I wouldn't dare," Kyoya began in all seriousness, "Meri and Chi have all the leverage here, so that girl had nothing to gain from sleeping with you. She just wanted you. Have you forgotten the effect you have on women?"

Kyoya smiled and raised his eyebrows as he spoke his last sentence, but Tamaki wasn't swayed as he replied, "Just fan girls, not someone like Meri."

"Haruhi," Kyoya began but was quickly cut off.

"Don't talk about her, please. I can't...," the blonde trailed off.

Tamaki seemed to have lost all of his egotism. An aura of self-confidence was what made the half French boy who he was, and seeing him like this was breaking the heart Kyoya kept so hidden and guarded.

The young Ootori decided to use another tactic. Placing his arm around his friend's shoulders, the dark haired boy was surprised when his normally tactile-friendly buddy initially shrank from his touch; however, after taking a deep breath Tamaki leaned into him, resting his head on Kyoya's shoulder.

Seeing his opening, Kyoya continued, "Remember when you first moved to Japan, and you had all those crazy misconceptions about Ninjas and kotatsus and such?"

Clearly aggravated, the former host king cut his eyes at his best friend before huffing, "Your point?"

"My point is you shouldn't judge her too harshly. The Chairman took advantage of your childish ignorance of Japan to lovingly tease you, and since you were just a little kid, you believed him," Kyoya replied.

Tamaki sighed, "You're saying she doesn't know any better."

Kyoya shook his head, "No, not exactly, I thought that at first too, but now, knowing my father, I'm fairly certain she was actively taught to treat her own pain and discomfort as collateral damage in these type situations."

Tamaki removed his head from Kyoya's strong shoulder and looked into his friend's eyes. The Ootori boy still had his arm around his friend, and their faces were mere inches apart. The former host king waited for Kyoya to push him away, but he never did. 'What's he thinking?" Tamaki wondered to himself.

Kyoya had always been opposed to a lot of physical contact, but now everything was different. His future, his goals, his inheritance and his all encompassing need to please his father were all things of the past. If he thought about what he wanted in life now, it was right in front of him. Kyoya didn't care where he lived as long as he was with Tamaki Souh.

"Tamaki," Kyoya began, tongue tied and embarrassed for the first time in his life. He wanted to tell his friend how he felt, but he didn't want the idiot to go crazy on him or get the wrong idea. "You mean a lot to me. Please don't ever go off and leave me. Stay with me forever, like a family."

Playing house with his friend was not a new concept to Tamaki, but Kyoya had always seemed to merely tolerate the game. Backing up a little, the blonde kept his blue-lilac eyes on the steely gray ones before him. 'Why is Kyoya acting so weird?' He thought.

"Where's this coming from, Kyoya? You don't have to be threatened by Meri. You still get to be mommy," Tamaki replied.

Kyoya sighed, "Don't be a moron. This isn't a game. I'm saying I love you, and I'm asking if you are willing to spend the rest of your life with me!"

Tamaki chortled, and for just a little while, Kyoya saw his old friend again, "I'm afraid the blinding brilliance of my beauty has struck you mad, Mon Ami. I'm not gay, and neither are you...Right?"

"I'm not talking about being gay or straight, and no, I'm not into guys. I'm talking about spending what remains of my life in this fucked up world with the one person I'd die for," Kyoya was afraid what he was trying to say was coming out all wrong, and the look on his friend's face confirmed it.

Tamaki started to open his mouth to speak, but he didn't have a clue what to say. It sounded as if his best friend had just proposed to him. He loved Kyoya very much, but he didn't want to have sex with him. Thankfully, his friend began talking again before the blonde had to say anything.

"Hear me out. I'm just saying if there was no such thing as sex or physical intimacy, if the concepts didn't even exist, would you want to live your life with Haruhi or Meri or with me?" Kyoya asked, his eyes searching for any signs of an imminent bout of hysteria from Tamaki.

The Souh boy's eyes had dropped to stare at the two hands be had laid in his lap, his fingers tapping the top of his legs nervously. After a long, silent pause, Tamaki gave his reply, "The naive optimist Haruhi fell in love with is all but gone. I can't be that child again, and I can't even think about her and the untainted love we shared without remembering what I've lost...I want things to work with Meri...for some reason, I need her."

Unsure if he would get punched, Kyoya shifted his body so the embarrassed boy he had his arm around didn't have to see his face while he spoke. Sliding a bit farther on the bed, he positioned himself behind Tamaki and slipped his arms around his waist, allowing the blonde to lean his back against his chest.

This time the Suoh boy didn't flinch. Relaxing his body, Tamaki leaned back and accepted his friend's comfort as he replied, "I'm with you to the end, Kyoya, but I'm still not sure exactly what you're asking of me."

"That's OK, and...it's...you don't..., Kyoya stammered before pulling his thought together, "It...just happened. You need to give yourself some time. You don't have to give up on Haruhi."

I'll never see her again anyway," Tamaki answered.

"We know where she was. We can look for her," the young Ootori offered.

"No," the blonde replied decisively.

"OK, as long as I know you won't abandon me, we have plenty of time to figure it all out," Kyoya replied.

While the boys were away, the girls devised a strategy the boys found much more palatable. Tamaki thought the risk to Meri was still too high, but he agreed to go along with the plan since she would have three armed people covering her and wouldn't be handing her body over to the Kondos.

Meri found the idea of her puppy worrying about her absolutely precious, and she was actually saddened about having to break his misconceptions before tomorrow. It had to be done though; otherwise, he might try to second guess her or go rogue and get himself or the rest of the group killed.

* * *

**Mori and Honey**

Honey sat outside of the small room his father had used for an office with Mori and his younger brother. The pint-sized dynamo had to suppress laughter as he heard his best friend pretending to go nuts on the prisoner he was interrogating. He and Satoshi had exchange a few smirks, knowing the gentle giant would fight to protect himself or others or for a competitive event, but he was no bruiser looking to beat information out of anyone. Eden's demeanor during the performance had been noteworthy. She was quiet but focused, facing the door with her eyes closed while listening intently.

Now Eden was alone with the prisoner. Takashi had not liked the idea at all, but the guy's wrists were bound, and he was duct taped to a chair. Plus Mori had promised his lover she could play good cop, so he waited. The young man had nearly burst into the office when he heard sobbing until he realized it was the prisoner and not Eden.

All three boys turned to look as Seiji entered the room behind a young man who was holding his hands up beside his head. Honey suddenly realized his student was holding a gun and asked, "What's going on?"

The search team found this guy entering our grounds, but he didn't seem to be trying to sneak in, so we don't think he is with the others. He was just strolling, so we asked if he was a student of the Hunninozuka or Morinozuka dojos. He didn't know what we were talking about, but he knew someone here," the boy explained.

"Who?" Mori asked simply.

"Eden," Seiji replied, "but that's all he would say until he got to see her, so I captured him as a precaution."

"What's your business with her?" Satoshi jumped into the conversation.

Looking the boy over, an expression of amusement flashed across Rush's face. If the boy thought he could intimidate him, he was sadly mistaken. Russia was a force to be reckoned with, not as strong as Manny nor as fast as Pan but faster than Germany and stronger than Japan. He could hold his own, but didn't yet see a reason to strike.

"She's my sister. Her name is actually Sweden. Eden is a nickname," the good-looking young man replied.

"Lower the gun, Seiji," Mori commanded, and the student quickly complied with his Sensai's order.

Rush recognized the man giving the orders. He was the tall drink of water he saw having sex with Eden at the convenience store. Looking Mori over for a second, he asked, "Where is she?"

After tapping on the door to the office, Mori slowly opened it to a surprising scene. Eden had her chair pulled close to the prisoner's. The rough looking thug was crying while Takashi's blonde bombshell was wiping his tears with a tissue, "There, there," she cooed sweetly as is talking to a toddler rather than a killer.

Mori frowned, not understanding what he was seeing, before he cleared his throat to get Eden's attention. The prisoner looked up with red eyes, tear stained cheeks and a pitiful expression but quickly looked back down at the floor in shame. Eden turned her head and gave her lover a coy smile.

Looking at the statuesque young woman, Mori said, "You have a visitor."

"OK, we're about finished," Standing up, Eden faced her prisoner, "Thank you for your cooperation. I'll send someone in to tend to your wounds soon." She flashed him a super star smile before slipping out the door.

"Hiya Sweets," Rush said with a smile while extending his arms for a hug. Eden's face flashed with pure joy as she saw her brother and ran into his arms. Mori didn't think they looked much like siblings, but he felt ashamed of himself for being jealous and having such thoughts.

"I was wondering if you were ever going to come find me!" She said releasing Rush from the hug and giving him a punch to the arm.

"Hey! You knew exactly where I was," He retorted.

"Still!" Eden pouted unreasonably, making Rush laugh and shake his head.

Mori's woman grabbed his hand and introduced him as her "lover", making both the strong, silent type and the boy lolita blush while Satoshi just smirked at his brother teasingly. After making the rest of the introductions, Eden remembered what she had been doing before her brother arrived.

Sitting down and crossing her legs as if conducting a board meeting, the stunner began to debrief the other's. "His name is Suki Hirioki, and he was a low level henchmen in the Yakuza's Sendo syndicate."

Hirioki had spilled his guts to Eden, making Honey wonder what kind of Yakuza squeals so easily. According to the prisoner, inadequate leadership due to many deaths caused by the epidemic and the defection of their leader's heir to a rival syndicate made them an easy target. A new player in the game, going by the name of Caesar, incorporated Sendo into his group, increasing his to numbers as well as gaining control of all their weapons and ammunition.

"Bloodshed?" Mori conveyed what he wanted to know with just one word, and Eden understood immediately.

Smiling at her handsome lover, the blonde woman tilted her head and gave him a wink before continuing, "That's what makes this Caesar so interesting. There was none at least not any that could be pinpointed as being caused by his people; however, the Sendo group had a real run of bad luck for a while."

Rush laughed and shook his head, "Let me guess...plans ruined, relations with other groups spoiled, supplies mysteriously cut off, or access to them blocked."

Giggling, "Bingo," Eden chimed.

"Winning without having to fight," Honey's worry was apparent in his voice.

"Exactly," Eden replied, "Hirioki thinks Caesar was a Godsend, the group's savior from peril."

"Idiot," the blonde's brother replied. Mori had been quiet but thoughtfully taking in everything said.

"This Caesar is crafty," Takashi admitted.

"Absolutely, and dangerous...you don't actively seek out heavy hitters with caches of weapons unless you have a mind to use them eventually," Rush answered.

"Caesar sent the men that attacked us, because our group is growing so quickly and has secured a lot of nearby resources. We were lucky, because they were just testing our defenses," Eden reported.

"Lucky?" Honey asked incredulously, "We have casualties!"

"Could have been worse?" Mori asked.

"A lot worse...they have a large group and superior firepower but wanted to get someone on the inside to gather intel before launching a full scale attack," Eden continued as the boys listened, "The group was unprepared for a battle because there wasn't suppose to be one."

"Explain," Honey interjected,

Eden nodded and replied, "The group had two missions. When they split up, Caesar's second took a skilled shooter to another location, leaving a lieutenant to lead this mission. When he saw all we had here, he got greedy and went rogue, hoping to overwhelm us with firepower and take what he wanted. They were suppose to come in as beggars looking for help and infiltrate. The stragglers who tried to get in were the ones who refused to go against Caesar's orders."

"Whoa, smart, strategic and detached. I bet Caesar had at least one guy in Sendo before he took them over," Rush spoke, his mind racing through scenarios and forming a hypothesis.

"Are you a soldier, Rush?" Satoshi asked.

"Not officially, but I've done a lot of contract work with the government's military," Rush replied in all honesty. His answer didn't sit well with Honey. He wanted to ask what kind of contract work, but he was afraid his cousin would get angry. Based on what he witnessed, maybe Eden had done some of this contract work too.

"Sweets? Did he tell you what this other mission was?" the girl's brother inquired.

"He didn't know the particulars, only that it involved a rival Yukuza syndicate," She replied.

"It must be the Kassanoda syndicate. We should warn Ritsu!" Honey insisted.

Rush looked over at the small man who seemed to be either be the leader of the group or Eden's lover's second. The young man appeared to garner great respect, so Russia surmised there had to be a lot more to him than meets the eye. Regarding Mori and his quiet, cool demeanor, Eden's brother liked what he saw, a warrior who kept his emotions out of the game and stayed calm. He could definitely work with this man.

"What do you think, Mori? This Ritsu, does he have power? Is a warning the best course of action?" Rush baited the hook.

"A warning is a good idea, but an alliance would be a better course of action," the stoic, young man replied, making Rush smile and nod.

Before the two men could continue, Eden spoke up, "Russia, where's Pan?"

Her brother's expression turned pained for only a second before his training redirected him to keep his face neutral in front of the others. The young man figured Eden must really trust the group, being she was willing to admit the existence of a third player in their group.

"He went home for her, and please, don't call me Russia."

The gorgeous blonde nodded, knowing exactly who the "her" in question was. Eden hoped her most beautiful brother wouldn't get his heart broken, but she feared it was inevitable. Meri loved Pan, but not in the way he loved her. They clung to one another for comfort and commiseration. Meri would be looking to move on from the past, another mission complete.

"So Rush, we hope you will stay with us," Mori said without consulting Honey first. The small man would have let him stay, but he would have liked to discuss some trepidations in private first.

"It would be my honor to join you. I would like to offer my help with the threat you are under from Caesar. My sister can vouch for my competence," Rush replied.

Mori nodded, placing an arm around the woman who drove him senseless but made him incredibly happy. In the last couple of hours, he had realized he barely knew anything about her; yet, standing there next to her and feeling her warmth, he couldn't manage to care. He would just have to learn along the way, because he was never going to let her go.

"We should discuss how to approach Kasanoda," said Satoshi. The others nodded in agreement and prepared to do some strategizing.

* * *

**Nekozawa**

The road was dry and dusty, so Britta had been happy when Nekozawa offered his car for the trip. The journey was over an hour on foot, so driving had saved a lot of time. Currently, she stood in front of a small and ragged looking apartment complex with several of her underlings standing guard. Kirimi had been living there when Britta and Manny found her.

The building's handyman, a twenty-five year old high school dropout named Soma, had take advantage of the fact that so many young women living there had been left orphaned and promised to take care of them. Unfortunately, his real intent had been human trafficking. His former side job, dealing drugs, had allowed him to string the girls out, helping him achieve his goal that much easier.

Remembering her first encounter at this place, Britta recalled Manny's actions. Her brother loves the game probably even more than the power. He wants his people to feel close to him, willing to go into battle for him without hesitation. To achieve such a situation he must give the people justice and show humanity. Unfortunately, Manny's ego is far more powerful than his ability to empathize with others. He has a heart but only truly shows it to a select few, and often his head isn't able to interpret what his heart would want him to do. He just isn't wired that way. Most of his humanity is pure pretense, causing him to miscalculate at times. He needs Britta's input to see situations as the masses would.

The lovely, celtic redhead had been unnerved by Manny's initial reaction to Soma's business. He thought the bastard was resourceful, able to keep the girls happy while making them commodities. Manny even thought Soma might make a good ally. She had to point out the injustice of the situation and explain how the masses would react towards tolerance of Soma's business.

After Britta's private counsel, Manny made a rousing, public appeal to his people, speaking of love and respect for woman and the necessity of protecting our sisters in arms and the women who would become future wives and help repopulate their dwindling existence. Having taken the time to find out what made even the worst of his people tick, her brother had pressed all the right buttons, making the group fall all over themselves to be saviors to the damsels in distress.

Before they ever confronted Soma, he had already lost. Manny had ordered main access to the place cut off, potential customers were warned of dangerous conditions ahead and detoured, keeping them from ever running across Soma's business. Once returning customer's were told the apartment building had been quarantined due to the outbreak of a new, unknown contagion, they couldn't get away from there fast enough. The last two nails in the coffin were the elimination of Soma's access to his drug source and Soma's loss of his gasoline powered generator due to sabotage by a man on the inside who Manny had managed to turn.

The girls had looked terrible when they finally got to them. Outwardly, they were still attractive, but they were strung out of their minds, incoherent shells of human beings. Even most of the young men they had liberated from the juvenile detention center were disgusted and utterly livid when they saw how young many of the girls were. One man even found a cousin there, and it was all Manny could do to keep him from slitting Soma's throat right then. Her brother was too smart for that though. He knew justice meant a trial, so he set up a tribunal. One man and one women elected by the people to serve with himself as a jury. Britta presented the evidence against Soma including testimony of some of the girls once they had helped them through the painful process of sweating the drugs out of their systems.

Soma had been found guilty of kidnapping, rape, assault and several other infractions. Most people wanted his blood, but Manny pulled out the charisma, speaking of his recent liberation of disenfranchised young men from a detention center and how under the right circumstances anyone could lose their way. It almost made Britta laugh hearing her brother speak of forgiveness and rehabilitation. She knew he just wanted to make Soma utterly indebted to him. The final ruling was that they were establishing a government that had not yet existed when Soma committed his crimes, so death was an inappropriate sentence. However, his crimes were an affront to basic human decency, so they could not go unpunished. In the end, Soma was put in Manny's custody to labor as an unpaid, unrewarded servant, given only enough to provide for basic human sustenance for a period of no less than two years but no more than ten. Ten years in their current situation was akin to a life sentence anyway. Of course, Manny could have cared less about the man's life, he just wanted a resourceful lackey. Of the three men working with Soma, two were convicted as accomplices, but the guard who had become Manny's spy claimed to have only taken the job as a means to 'protect the girls as much as he could and look for an opening to liberate them'. Manny rewarded him for his valuable service as his spy by making him one of his lieutenants. In fact, he put him in charge of 'corrections', supervising the other three men.

One of the women living in the apartment, had been the cousin of Kirimi's servant, Kuretake. The nanny had taken the little, blonde child and fled when the epidemic was in full swing in Tokyo, but having not been able to get far due to rioting and traffic, the two took refuge in the apartment complex to wait out The Long Night. Kuretake had managed to survive, but her cousin had not.

Manny had immediately been smitten with Kirimi, and luckily Soma had yet to find a customer base interested in someone her age. In fact, even he had been fond of the little girl's entertaining bluntness. He'd used her to bring the ladies their meals, brush their hair and help them wash and fix up before seeing customers.

Now the place was more of a host club than a brothel. The girls greet customers and provide companionship and refreshments for weary travelers, convincing them of what a wonderful place they have found, governed by a benevolent leader. The girls were also an excellent resource for gathering information on neighboring areas from these travelers, the perfect spies. In turn, Manny looked out for the young ladies, fixing their generator, providing security and making sure they had everything they needed. Some of the girls, who liked pretty things or were after something in particular, would provide some extra services if the right incentive was offered. Manny didn't care about side work as long as it was done voluntarily, kept off the books and didn't interfere with his objectives. The one incentive not allowed was drugs.

"Is she in there?" the cloaked man dressed all in black with strands of dark hair hanging out from under his hood asked.

Britta knew it was show time, so she looked at him pensively before replying, "She was when I left."

Climbing the steps, Nekozawa followed Britta until they reached apartment 303, where all the business was done at least any business sanctioned by Manny. A guard greeted them at the door and quickly recognized Britta.

"I see you've brought some friends, Captain," the burley, young man with five o'clock shadow greeted.

"Yes, be sure you extend them every curtesy. They need refreshment and rest," the red-head answered.

"I'd rather just find my sister. Then my people and I will head back home," the disguised blonde replied.

"You are welcome to look for her, but the girls love it here. They've got a good deal and are well looked after. She probably won't want to leave," the guard replied.

"She's hardly old enough to make such a decision on her own," Nekozawa retorted.

"Haven't you heard? Thirteen is the new twenty-one. Anyone over twenty these days is considered an 'elder'," the guard replied.

"She's just a little girl!" the half Russian boy spat angrily.

"You won't find anyone under fifteen working here, bosses orders," the guard replied calmly.

'This one's been trained by Manny himself," Britta thought before she asked, "Where is Kirimi?"

"Oh, the wee princess is your sister? Good luck getting her back. Caesar took her. He's taken quite a liking to her smart mouth," the guard laughed.

Nekozawa was livid. Grabbing Britta's arm, he screamed, "You said she was here!"

Out of reflex, the red haired girl, quickly turned the tables on him, twisting his arm behind his back with enough force it nearly broke. The young man was in tears, not for his arm but from worrying about his little sister.

"Will...he won't hurt her, will he?" the boy wept after collapsing to his knees.

Britta felt bad. If it were Ari, India or Chi in question, she would have been upset too. "No, no, this is good news," she began, releasing the boy and massaging the strained area of his arm, "Caesar is my brother. Kirimi could not be in better hands."

Reassured that his sister was fine, Nekozawa allowed his people to enter the hostess club and have some refreshments with the ladies. Much like Ouran's host club, the apartment had been set up with a lot of comfortable seating around tables. The kitchen was separated from the living room only by a bar with a cut out window, and the bar had been stocked with bowls of peanuts, crackers and store-salvaged cookies as well as a pitcher of ice water. The ladies walked around serving tea, stopping to converse with their guests along the way.

On closer inspection, the young magician noticed way more differences than similarities between this club and Ouran's. There were no themes, no costumes and most notably only two male hosts, and those two clearly didn't cater to female clientele. Nekozawa found himself glad he hadn't brought many female members of the black magic club with him, because this was just embarrassing.

* * *

**Kasanoda**

Mei sat up in bed watching Ritzu Kasanoda pace the floor. He had been like this ever since his friend, Nekozawa, had left with about half of the former members of the black magic club. At Ouran the boys had bonded at being considered as outcasts by a large portion of the student body and had become best friends. Nekozawa tried to get Ritzu interested in his club, but it just wasn't the angry-looking boys thing. Even after Kasanoda found acceptance in the gardening club, the two young men remained close friends. Now the Kasanoda syndicate consisted of a handful of remaining younger members, most of the gardening club and all of the members of the black magic club.

"I never should have let them go," Ritzu lamented, "If anything happens to them it is my fault."

"No, it is not," Mei replied, "Nekozawa would not be dissuaded from going after his sister, and his people would not let him go on his own. He's not helpless and alone. Half of his group went with him."

"I know, but they are just kids,...spoiled, pampered, rich kids. They don't stand a chance," Ritzu replied ruefully.

"That's not true. Besides you armed them and sent some back up with them," Mei reminded her boyfriend.

"Only two men," Ritzu refused to cry but felt like it. He believed showing such weakness would dishonor his deceased father.

"Any more and the rest of us would be left at risk. You sent your best man," she reasoned, but knowing he has sent his friend, Tetsuya only made him feel even worse.

* * *

**Tamaki and Kyoya**

After giving the boys some basic firearms training, Meri decided it was time to give her lover a hard shot of reality. Disguising her intentions as a tour of the facility, Meri began to point out different places on a map and use the the security monitors to show off the first four sectors, Alpha, Brava, Charlie and Delta. Seeing it all on foot would have taken forever. Kyoya surmised the majority of the military installation was actually about two miles away topside of the Ootori compound but could be reached from underground with a long ride down the southwestern corridor and a trip up on an elevator.

"The farm hidden inside the gates of the base makes of the entirety of Charlie sector," Meri flipped some switches and Tamaki noted a barn and a chicken coop on the monitor.

"With so many people working right around you guys, how did they never find out you were here? How could Dr. Ootori be sure no one would blab?" Tamaki inquired.

"Technically, due to an agreement Dr. Ootori made with the government for our services, all of those areas were made part of a classified military base. You were given the coordinates to come in through the Echo sector gate which is mostly barren. All the other sectors were manned by military personnel, and for them, blabbing would have been treason. Plus only a select few even knew Echo existed."

"So no one has come to loot that farm?" Kyoya wondered aloud.

"It's hidden behind a large fence with signs that read: Danger - Biohazard," Meri explained before continuing, "Are guys sure you want to see how the other half lives?"

As Tamaki and Kyoya nodded, their hostess actually felt a little sorry for them as she began their tour of Echo sector. Breaking them in slowly, she started with areas that were only slightly oppressive such as one of the guard shacks as well as the Ootori police living quarters. Moving on, Meri pointed out some of the simulation testing rooms.

"Why are some of them empty?" Kyoya asked.

"Except for the computer simulations, testing areas are staged for different scenarios. You meet the objective, whatever it may be, and you complete your mission," She explained.

"What happens if you can't figure it out or you do it wrong?" Tamaki asked.

"You would get beaten," Meri replied nonchalantly; her face showed about as much emotion as Kyoya normally allowed on his own.

"Beaten?" Like whipped?" the blonde man replied in horror.

"Sometimes. The cane seemed most popular, but mostly just for the cogs like Chi. They don't heal rapidly. For the physical models, it was usually the closed fist of one of a brother or sister," the unfazed girl elaborated, "It was supposedly more effective if the punishment came from someone you love. For the last year or so, only Yoshio was allowed to punish me though."

Kyoya blanched at hearing a teenaged girl refer to his father so informally, especially considering the other girl had referred to his as Dr. Ootori. He could just imagine how far their relationship had gone, and it made his stomach turn. Even Kyoya himself would never dare use his father's first name.

"I would have refused!" Tamaki insisted.

"OK, but then your sibling would get a harsher punishment, and you would get to share it," Meri replied. "Most of us would fight back to help alleviate the guilt of the sibling forced to beat us."

"That's the worse thing I have ever heard!" Tamaki wailed.

"I think that's enough about that subject," Kyoya interjected, "Tamaki doesn't need to hear this right now."

"Let me ask you, Kyoya. What are your plans after tomorrow when we get your friend back?" Meri replied.

"Umm, I'm not really sure. I assumed we were welcome to stay here awhile," Kyoya looked into Meri's eyes but saw nothing but a dead and soulless void, drastically different from the expression she wore just before the current topic of discussion.

"You are one of us, Kyoya. You and yours can stay indefinitely, but I need you to understand the reality of where you are. Chi and I have been given a descent picture of what goes on in your world. We've seen your news reports, read your magazines and watched your movies, but you know nothing of us."

Tamaki had been remarkably quiet during the exchange, and Kyoya was thrown off when he noticed his friend was holding Meri's hand again. Taking a deep breath, he replied, "I realize that, but..."

Cutting him off, Meri continued, "If you are going to stay here, I need to show you the rehabilitation room."

Tamaki finally spoke up again, "Show us everything."

Meri smiled at him and leaned in to kiss his lips. The former host king returned her kiss but only briefly. A hit of embarrassment dancing over his cheeks, Tamaki quickly set his gaze on the floor to avoid Kyoya's gaze.

"Follow me," Meri said ominously as she led the boys a ways down the corridor.

Tapping a few code numbers into a panel facilitated the opening of a second panel. Entering the rehabilitation room proved to be lengthy process, causing Tamaki to become anxious while Kyoya was simply annoyed. Once the three were clear of the first door, the young Ootori sighed, realizing a vault requiring a retinal scan still stood in their way.

"China and Ari reset all of these to accept our scans," the young girl explained, leaning in to press her head against the forehead rest of the scanner.

"Ari?" Tamaki was quick to recognize a new player in the game.

"Another sister of mine. I'll get to all of that in just a bit. For now, pull the neckline of your shirts up over your noses and brace yourselves," Meri cautioned.

Tamaki took a deep breath before doing as instructed. He didn't know what to expect, but he was smart enough to know he wouldn't be seeing anything good. Far more jaded and familiar with the worst his father had to offer, Kyoya didn't think he would be surprised.

"I need a thumb print from one of you. Chi has it set to accept any print, but I don't have any," Meri said wiggling her fingers at the boys.

Taking the girl's hand, Kyoya turned it over to examine her palm. Fortune tellers would make no money off of Meri. She had no fingerprints, and her palm was smooth. Placing his thumb on the scanner, Kyoya left it in place until he heard the loud popping sound of the vault's locking mechanism springing open.

"Shirts," Meri insisted. Tamaki had already complied, but Kyoya took just a second to pull his up over his mouth and nose.

After passing through the vault's entrance, the boys were surprised to find themselves in a tight foyer. The space was large enough for all three of them, but only as long as everyone kept their arms by their sides. Just in front of them an ordinary, rust colored door with a broken padlock stood in the middle of a thick concrete wall, painted a dreary hue somewhere between off white and milky yellow.

The foreboding feeling the boys were experiencing was compounded by the foul smell. As soon as the door to the vault opened, the stench hit Kyoya who released a horse cough. The ebony-haired Ootori thought he would rather have his entire body wallpapered with diapers, old fish, and sweaty gym socks than to continue choking back the stench currently attacking his nostrils.

Tamaki sputtered as Meri pushed the door open and led them inside while Kyoya choked back bile and pawed at his watering eyes. Looking over to check on his friend, the dark featured boy found a very pale Tamaki attempting to steady himself against the wall with one hand while his other hand covered his mouth. The blonde worked hard not to vomit, gagging every few seconds.

"What the hell am I smelling?!" Kyoya choked out between coughs.

"Pungent huh?" Meri laughed.

"This is funny?" Tamaki managed.

Shrugging, "I find it helps to keep a sense of humor about things. You can get through anything that way, but you never really get use to this smell. After being in here a couple of days, it doesn't faze you nearly as much though," the girl replied.

"What could you possibly find amusing here?" Tamaki said, absolutely appalled.

Meri laughed again, "Well, currently, your reaction."

Kyoya repeated his question, "What is it?"

"No matter how many times you clean, the smell of the mixture of feces, dried urine, and blood just never go away..." Meri began.

"Explain," Kyoya was starting to get annoyed.

"If you made a major faux pas, like if you royally messed up a training exercise by being 'killed' in it rather that just failing or if you got caught breaking one of Yoshio's social rules for a second offense, or worst of all, you managed to piss off Mother on a personal level, you would be sent to this luxurious Hell hole," Meri giggled and outstretched her arms to emphasize their surroundings as she explained, her face animated as if she were retelling a classic tale, "Minimum stay is six hours, max could be weeks."

Kyoya moved to speak, but his shirt slipped down from his face, and he gagged as if the smell had entered his mouth and swam down his throat. Before he could recover, his hostess made her way over to one of many contraptions filling the room. Tamaki grabbed the girl's thin hand and squeezed hard as they approached what looked like a coffin with small holes drilled into it in several places.

"This one is called The Slab, because the bottom is very hard and uncomfortable. It's roomy though, so you can flip back and forth to shift your weight from one side to the other if you are small enough. I only got this one once for telling Mother to go screw herself," Meri explained, opening the lid of the box to show light wood stained much darker in some places.

"How long?" Kyoya asked.

"How should I know. The lights stay on bright, so you can't tell if it's day or night. Mother was pissed about me having such an easy time with this one. I even manage to hold everything in for what seemed like a long time, but she kept giving me water with a straw, and I was so thirsty. That's why I always got The Cramp thereafter," Meri took a few steps and stopped in front of a shorter, smaller box.

"Hold everything?" Tamaki stammered.

"The cramp?" Kyoya was curious as well.

"While you're locked in any of these beauties, you don't get bathroom breaks. You just hold it until you can't," Meri explained before pointing, "This is The Cramp."

Some of the box was wooden, probably at least the frame, but it looked as if it was made mostly of leather. It had a small, lattice-covered, square-shaped cutout at the head, but no other ventilation. Kyoya marveled at the size. At 5'11, there was no way he could have fit inside of it, and at six foot, Tamaki would likely have to break both of his legs to fit. Meri was shorter than himself, but not by a lot. The young brunette could not imagine how his hostess had fit into the box.

"How...how did?" Kyoya began until Meri opened the box up completely. The smell that escaped its confines was nauseating enough to choke a maggot. Hopping onto the table as if she were getting on a swing set, Meri scooted into the box and pulled her knees up to chest before flipping the lid partially closed.

"It works like this," the young girl started to say before Tamaki slapped the lid off of the box and lifted her out like he was lifting a baby from a crib.

"Gross! Don't ever do that. That thing is filthy," Meri's lover insisted, turning her around and brushing her off as if the germs would disappear.

"The stains are old. It's been cleaned," Meri replied.

"It smells like cave full of bear shit!" Tamaki replied before gagging. The young man, who had forgotten to keep his mouth and nose covered, continued to gag uncontrollably before finally up chucking his last meal onto the floor.

"I think we've seen enough," Kyoya said, worried about the psychological effect this was having on the already traumatized Tamaki.

"No way, this is the little league. There's so much more to see, The Wrench, The Swarm, The Drip, The Bend and my personal favorite, The Water Wench," Meri continued oblivious to how much Tamaki was suffering.

"We get the point," Kyoya replied gently but firmly. Tamaki was still gagging and waiting for a second wave.

"Alright then, just one more thing," Meri's gaze met Kyoya's, as she pointed to what looked like a very small auditorium of seats in the front of the room.

"Your a smart guy, Puppy. What do you think this is?" Meri asked.

Tamaki spat, coughed and tried to catch his breath. Kyoya started to intervene, but his friend held up his hand to stop him.

"It looks like box seats," the sickly, young man replied.

"We got it!" Kyoya snarled, glaring at his tour guide through his glasses. He was use to being able to intimidate anyone, but Meri had dealt closely with his father. She wasn't afraid.

Instead of shrinking, this slender, blonde girl with a child's laugh and vacant eyes stepped into the young man's personal space, staring silently in his eyes before whispering softly, "No, you really don't."

Kyoya remained silent and still as the lost, little girl closed in on him. Suddenly, he was the boy in his father's study again, incurring the man's wrath. Looking at Meri and then over to Tamaki, everything was so clear to him now. If he had never met and become friends with the French-Japanese boy, his own eyes would likely share Meri's dead, vacant stare.

Sickened by the unforgivable transgressions his father had visited on Meri and the others, Kyoya vowed he would take responsibility. These kids, roaming Japan and doing what was anyone's guess, were his problem now. Taking another look at Tamaki, Kyoya hoped his friend would be on board for what he had in mind. Unable to stand anymore of the ghastly atmosphere and horrid odor, Suoh fled out the door, leaving Meri and Kyoya to their stand-off.

"Dropping his stare-off with the girl, "Give us a minute," Kyoya said before running after his friend. Quickly catching up with him, the brunette found Tamaki sitting in the corner of the outside corridor, trying to keep himself from hyperventilating.

Kyoya sat down next to his friend and encouraged him to breath slowly. Tears were running steadily down Tamaki's face, and the once beauty conscience boy was wiping his nose with his own shirt. The pitiful sight was killing Kyoya. Reaching over, he took Tamaki's hand in his but said nothing.

"Kyoya, what are you doing?" the other teenager asked, tearful but without anger.

"The only thing I can do. If I had never met you, I would be as broken as her. I could have even turned into my father. I was on that path," the brunette squeezed his friend's hand. Tamaki's looked defeated, a shell of the young man Kyoya knew.

"Please Tamaki, I need you. If you give up now, I don't know what I will do," the young Ootori pleaded.

"I think you two will like the next room better. It will be the last on our tour," Meri replied softly, having slipped up next to them unnoticed. She felt guilty for pushing the harsh reality on her lover.

"Sorry about vomiting back there. I can clean it up," Tamaki offered, pulling his hand out of Kyoya's and reaching up for Meri's.

"Why? You think it will make the room smell bad?" Meri deadpanned, bringing just a hint of a smile to the young man's face.

Helping Tamaki to his feat, the girl lead the boys onward to an oddly clinical-looking room with several alcoves. The lighting was a muted blue around each alcove, but regular, incandescent lights hung from the ceiling. Utterly minimalistic, the room contained no seats or personal knick knacks of any kind. The walls had been stark white but now sported a few crayon drawings, a poem and some other writing.

Each alcove contained an oblong-shaped sleeping pod designed to serve two people. Some of the pods were open, showing rumbled, white sheets and two pillows while other pods had their domes retracted, shielding the sleep space from light or prying eyes. Kyoya noted small placards over each pod, each denoting the name of a different country.

"What's all that about?" Kyoya asked, pointing to the nameplates.

Meri shook her head in disgust and gave a short snort, "Partially, DNA markers but mostly Daddy's little joke. What else would a megalomaniac name his kids. So ridiculous...we all shorten them."

"So you're America and Chi is China?" Tamaki pointed to the alcove with the corresponding placards.

"Ugh, yes, but don't ever call me that. Chi is actually fine with being called China though." Meri answered.

"DNA markers?" Kyoya was very interested in the science involved.

"None of us are genetically related, just whipped up in the same lab. I guess it's easier to serve an international client base if you can offer a product that will blend into the desired environment. I don't even know if we have mothers. Chi never found all of the detailed records. I think your father had them hid somewhere, so no one could steal his work and duplicate his results," Meri explained, seemingly unaffected.

Placing her hand over the back on her neck and lifting her long tresses, Meri took the opportunity to show the boys her data port and explain how it allowed her and China to co-sleep. Tamaki placed his index and middle fingers over the port and lightly ran them over the hard, metal circle, shocked he had not noticed it when the two had been intimate. Kyoya wished he could say he was surprised by his father's willingness to drill holes into the skulls of children.

* * *

**Haruhi and the Twins**

"Damn it, that's the last of our toothpaste, Kaoru. Now what I'm I suppose to do?" Hikaru screeched.

"I'm sorry, but I need to bush my teeth too. Borrow some from Haruhi until we can get some more," Kaoru replied.

"If we can get some more is more like it. Every time we go out, there is less and less of everything to be found," the dominate twin began, "Well enjoy, you minty fresh mother fucker."

"Heeeeekaru!" Kaoru whined, "How can you speak to me like that. I swear your temper has gotten worse. Maybe you need to go see India to find out if it has anything to do with your head injury."

"My temper has to do with losing everything right down to basic commodities, not some stupid bump to the head," Hikaru replied.

Reaching for his brother's hand, tears in his eyes, "It wasn't just a bump to the head. You were unconscious for awhile. India kept you in the infirmary for three days," Kaoru choked back his sadness.

His twins tears tug at his heart and the older twin felt bad for making his brother cry, "I'm sorry, Kaoru. I think I'm just upset that Kendra won't put be back on regular duty yet. I hate fishing, and hunting is worse!"

Just then Haruhi shlepped into the room and fell back on her bed. The three of them were rooming together since everyone thought she was a boy anyway. Groaning, the girl sat back up and looked at her friends.

"What's your problem?" Hikaru asked.

"Stupid whiners making more work for me! Why can't they just do their work? Is it really that hard that they have to complain all the time?" Haruhi lamented.

"If they complain, give the shittier assignments for the day like bathroom cleaning duty," Hikaru replied.

"Hey someone's got to do it. That's why we rotate cleaning crew so everyone takes a turn," the cross-dressing girl replied.

"Maybe you should rotate the kitchen crew too," Kaoru considered.  
"I thought about that, but cooking and baking for a large group requires skill. The kitchen manager can't retrain a new crew every week," she explained.

"I guess not," Kaoru replied, "so Hikaru is right. Make those crybaby bitches join cleaning crew for the day if they aren't happy with their positions. Then maybe the next day they will appreciate getting to smell bread baking all day."

Haruhi laughed. The twins made a good point. She considered doing just that the next time some prissy, rich girl or spoiled, rich bastard complained about his post.

"How are you feeling, Hikaru?" Haruhi asked.

"A lot better now that you are here," he smiled at the short-haired brunette.

"Well, I still need to put in two more hours for the day, so I'm headed to the laundry," Kaoru said, knowing Hikaru wanted some time alone with Haruhi.

Sitting down on the bed beside the girl, the dominate twin took her hand in his. The two weren't exactly dating, but Haruhi had grown much more tolerant of Hikaru's touch lately. Even though she still loved Tamaki and felt guilty, she found be close to the twin quite comforting.

"They caught your attackers, right?" Haruhi asked.

"Yeah, apparently, Kendra heard me yell and lead a rescue. The other guys said she clocked the hell out of those two guys. They had to carry one of them out of there," he began before looking down sadly, "I had already killed the girl."

"It's not like you meant to do it. You were just trying to defend yourself," the brown eyed girl replied.

"I know...hey, can we talk about something else. There's something I want to ask you," Hikaru inquired.

"Um sure," Haruhi replied, "What's on your mind?"

"Well, we've been dancing around this for awhile...and, well,..I..I think it's time to move forward. Will you be my girlfriend?"

"Hikaru, I don't know. I mean what about Tamaki. I still have feelings for him. Plus even if I weren't still in love with Tamaki, it would be complicated with everyone thinking I'm a boy."

"Look, I understand you still care for Tono, but it's probable that we will never even see him again. Do you think he's waiting for you?"

Haruhi seemed to consider what Hikaru said for a moment before answering, "Absolutely, I know Tamaki would...no, is waiting for me. I'm sure he's working on a way to get up to Mt. Fuji to find me."

Hikaru sighed, "OK, I hope you don't end up getting your heart broken. I'll wait a little longer." Leaning forward he gave the girl a kiss on the lips, slipping his tongue in her mouth.

Pulling away Haruhi smiled before asking, "Did you use my bubblegum flavored toothpaste?"

* * *

**Tamaki and Kyoya**

Hours after the conclusion of the tour from Hell, Kyoya laid restlessly in bed. The events of the day had him keyed up and unable to sleep, and the uncomfortable straining in the crotch of his pants wasn't helping. Rolling off of his shoulder and onto his back, the brunette was startled to find he wasn't alone.

"What the Hell are you doing here?" He snapped.

"The smell of your testosterone overload is keeping me awake. Do something about it or I will," Meri hissed, running an index finger down his bare chest and poking his navel.

"Ouch," Kyoya spoke in a whisper now, terrified his best friend would walk in and see him in bed with his lover, "Didn't Tamaki give you what you needed?"

Rolling her eyes, "What I needed? I need sleep, and you're keeping me awake."

"Wait,...you can smell that?" Kyoya asked.

"Another one of your father's precious gifts to me," Meri snipped, pulling her shirt off over her head.

"What ARE you doing," Kyoya quibbled with weakening resolve as his eyes roamed over the girl's bare breasts. Meri offered no answers as she slipped out of her pants and pulled the drawstring on Kyoya's.

"Stop it! Tamaki could walk in here any minute from now," the young man agonized.

Undeterred, Meri reached down Kyoya's pants and began to gently stroke him. His chest beginning to heave and his body betraying him, the young man swore, "Fuck," as he grabbed both of the girls hands, pushed her on her back and pinned her to the bed.

Stiff and throbbing, Kyoya could feel himself pressing against the girl's thigh through the thin material of his surgical, scrub pants. As Meri bucked her hips upward to grind against him, the young man found himself angered not only by the girl's brazenness but by his inability to refuse her.

Thrusting gently, Kyoya enjoyed the friction his movements created while he admonished his nocturnal visitor, "Don't you even care about Tamaki's feelings?"

"Don't you?" She retorted, hooking her thumbs under his waistband and freeing his length with one good tug.

"Damn," He swore, tightening his grip on her her wrists and pushing them into the mattress, "You like being in charge? Well, you can forget about it," Kyoya leaned down to roughly catch Meri's mouth with his own, practically eating her alive.

She matched his hungry kiss but allowed him to hold her down. Breaking from the kiss, Kyoya worked his way down her with the same intensity, stopping to wildly taste Meri's breasts, making her moan and offer a lusty growl.

"Don't you move," Kyoya demanded as he released one of her wrists and slipped his hand between her thighs, pressing down on the pink flesh between them with increasing pressure until he felt a dampening of his finger tips.

After another rough kiss, he forcefully shoved two fingers inside Meri before ordering, "Spread wide."

Goosebumps raised on Meri's skin and her loins burned with desire as she obeyed. She hadn't expected to be so turned on by her former lover's son. She found herself craving Kyoya's touch with even more intensity than she had hated Yoshio's.

The young man's fingers stayed in place as his tongue brushed Meri's navel and he drug his teeth across her stomach a few times. "You're not in charge. Don't you move, Kyoya taunted as he blew cool breath on the bundle of sensitive nerves above her opening, causing her to release a muted whimper.

A wicked, arrogant smile played on Kyoya's lips as he lifted his head to look at Meri's eyes. No longer vacant, the sandy-haired girl's eyes burned with passion and longing.

Hiding his own agonizing desire behind false bravado, the handsome lover pushed onward, "Do you want me to fuck you?"

Meri nodded, her chest heaving as she panted, but Kyoya had no intention on letting her off so easily. Laughing mercilessly, he insisted, "Then ask me."

"Fuck me," Meri whispered.

"No," Kyoya's eyes narrowed as he stared at his lover's confused expression, "I said ASK me."

Meri felt strange. Every man she had ever slept with, at least the four she hadn't been roofied into forgetting, had been at her mercy. Even a wounded and pitiful Tamaki, whose pride was chaffing from recent humiliation, had quickly bared all and jumped at the chance to have her. She wondered if Kyoya was somehow immune to her body chemistry's tricks.

Struggling to maintain control of himself and choking down the desire to forget his own demands in favor of jumping the woman beneath him, Kyoya maintained his icy stare until Meri spoke, "Are you going to take me?"

'Clever girl,' Kyoya thought, unable to suppress the smirk dancing on his lips and the smile it brought to his eyes. He refused to let her get away with it.

"Do you want me to?" He asked seductively, his fingers continuing to stroke her pleasure zones.

"Yes please," she finally gave in to an extent.

Smiling and knowing he had won, Kyoya played one last card, "Soon...you just relax and do as you're told."

Shuttering, Meri felt Kyoya's tongue join his fingers, stroking her to ecstasy. Adding his lips to the dance, he grabbed the tingling button and suckled, gently this time. Soon Kyoya's careful attention pushed her over the edge of sanity, causing her to cry out, alerting him of her imminent climax. Warm wetness pushed his fingers out of his lover before he placed the two digits in his mouth.

Without warning Kyoya positioned himself and slammed into the pulsating, pink opening between Meri's thighs, causing her to reward him with a startled squeal. Willing himself to delay release, the young man began a deep, punishing rhythm, eliciting whimpering sounds of pleasure from the girl beneath him until she gasped and her muscles tightened, spasming with a frenzy.

Not giving her time to recover, Kyoya removed himself from her body and demanded, "Turn over and get on your knees."

Breathy but not strained or exhausted, Meri complied, obeying her lover's further instructions to prop herself on her forearms. Kyoya balanced on his knees and got into position, entering slowly this time. Still on his knees, Kyoya eased down into a kneeling position as he pulled the slender blonde backwards towards him until she sat impaled on his lap. The handsome brunette wrapped his arms around her with one hand caressing her breasts while the other stroked above the tightly packed opening in a circular motion. Nuzzling against Meri's neck, Kyoya breathed in her body's fragrance, a mixture of her own sweet scent blending with the comfortingly familiar smell of Tamaki.

Becoming impatient as her lover held her still, Meri attempted to move her leg to get some leverage, causing Kyoya to lightly slap her leg before admonishing, "Hey, I already screwed you senseless, so now be still so I can make love to you."

Settling down, Meri obeyed her lover as he began to move, stroking her body as he gave her a sweet, smooth ride. The decreased speed helped Kyoya to hold back, but he knew he couldn't go much longer. Working his fingers frantically, he was relieved to feel a sudden, sharp increase in wetness as Meri clamped tightly around him again, causing him to push in deeply and climax within her.

Separating their bodies, Kyoya held tight to his lover as he collapsed, flopping over on his back as he sought to catch his breath. Wiggling out of his grasp, Meri said, "I need to use the bathroom," before she slipped away, leaving him by himself.

Immediately missing her warmth and scent, Kyoya began to feel a small pang of melancholy until he heard a familiar voice call his name. Gasping and startled, the youngest Ootori son was filled with a mixture of guilt and self-hatred as the person he loved more than anyone else in the world asked, "Can I come in? I don't want to be alone."

So much craziness and new information had bombarded the two of them in the past few hours, Kyoya could hardly believe it had been less than a day since Tamaki was assaulted. They hadn't even made it through one night yet, and the two of them had both utterly lost themselves.

"Ta...Tamaki, umm sure," Kyoya replied, not knowing how long his friend had been there or how he would react when Meri returned from the restroom. As the last living Souh made his way through the bedroom door, Kyoya retrieved his glasses from the bedside table in order to search his friend's face for signs of anger. Instead, once his eyes focused, he noted Tamaki stood at the side of the bed, bare-chested and clothed only in a pair of boxer shorts.

Pulling the pants bunched around his thighs back up with one hand, Kyoya grabbed a handful of the covers with the other and pulled them back for his friend. Tamaki slipped between the sheets and laid silently for a few seconds. If he heard the shower running from the nearby bathroom, the blonde didn't mention it as he stared at this friend's face as if struggling for words.

Laying on his side and extending his arms openly, Kyoya spoke first, "Come here."

Without question, Tamaki slipped into his friend's arms. The unprecedentedly emotional Ootori turned to lay on his back while sliding his arms around his friend's waist, encouraging the blonde to slip in closer. Tamaki wasn't comfortable enough to lay over Kyoya completely, so he laid only his chest and head down on his friend while his legs laid adjacently on the mattress. The blonde felt startled by how good the sensation of his skin against Kyoya's felt. Tilting his head, Kyoya rested his cheek against the top of his friend's head, breathing in the scent smelled on Meri.

"How long had you been standing there?" Kyoya finally worked up the courage to ask.

"Pretty much the whole time," Tamaki replied with no hint of anger or hurt.

Perplexed but relieved, Kyoya hoped his friend heard him try to resist. Tenderly comforting the young Souh with a gentle back rub, the other boy asked, "Are you angry with me for sleeping with her?"

"No, who do you think sent her in here?" the blonde replied before adding, "I didn't know you were going to make me look bad by doing her up so good though, but thanks for trying so hard to resist. You must have been in agony."

Kyoya couldn't believe it when he heard Tamaki give a little chuckle. "What the Hell are you saying, Tamaki?" Kyoya was having trouble wrapping his mind around what his friend was thinking.

"She told me why she couldn't sleep, and I asked her if she would help you," the tawny-haired, young man replied.

"She didn't get pissed?" Kyoya asked incredulously.

"No, I explained things before I asked her, and she's on board," Tamaki replied.

"Shit! On board with what?" Kyoya was starting to feel like a dirty pig for what had gone on with his friend's lover.

"Our family...the three of us, Daddy, Mommy and our wife," Tamaki replied innocently.

Kyoya was shocked. The Tamaki he knew would have never dreamed of doing something as lurid and sordid as sending his girlfriend to service his best friend, but when the sweet blonde gave his simple, almost child-like reasoning, the Ootori boy knew his friend hadn't meant any harm. Kyoya had actually been thinking something similar but not quite in those terms. Earlier while Tamaki and Meri were crawling all over each other, the young Ootori had managed to have an enlightening conversation with his new sister, Chi, and she even allowed him access to some of the compound's records.

The tiny girl told him his biological mother, Dreama, had died awhile ago, but Chi was unwilling to say anything else about the woman except that she was a bad person. Kyoya also learned he had eight additional siblings out in the world somewhere. Chi didn't know if they stuck to the plan, but originally, the group was headed for Mount Fuji. From what he could gather from the files as well as the bits and pieces he had already put together, these kids were powerful and could potentially be very dangerous. If they were anything like Meri and Chi, they had next to no moral upbringing, and he felt it was his obligation to find them and at least try to teach them right from wrong.

Kyoya had hoped that Tamaki, who had always wanted to be 'daddy,' would be willing to help him parent his siblings. The handsome brunette already knew Meri's relationship with his platonic soulmate would blur the parental lines. Initially intending to treat her as something akin to a niece, Kyoya planned to gently nudging her in the right direction with Tamaki's help, but he never imagined he would end up being intimate with her as well. Now everything was all muddle up, but Tamaki's idea had presented an intriguing solution. Normally, the idea of two men sharing a woman would have brought to mind a scene from a tasteless, pornographic movie. Only someone with a heart like Suoh's could turn such a scenario into a something sweet and unselfish.

Returning from the bathroom, Meri's hair was towel dried and her skin was still a bit damp as she stood by the bed, "Aren't you two cute," she said of the snuggling boys. Tamaki slipped over and pulled back the covers, allowing her to slip in between him and Kyoya. Reaching over, the blonde, young man threaded his arms around Meri and pulled her back to his chest as his best friend slipped closer. Slipping his knee between the girl's thighs, Kyoya could feel Tamaki's leg behind hers. The brunette placed his hand on Meri's arm, and Tamaki placed his hand on the other boy's shoulder. Meri had laid her forehead against Kyoya's chest, leaving the two males in the hugging trio with their faces just inches apart. The onyx-haired beauty's heart skipped a beat when he saw the smile on his friend's lips, lighting up flecks of brilliant purple in those signature, Tamaki Suoh eyes just before they closed. Kyoya smiled to himself, thinking polyandry might just work out well for the three of them before he drifted off to sleep.


	6. Pushing Onward

**Disclaimer: I don't own Ouran nor am I affiliated with the show, managa, or author. I only own the story, and the OCs are mine.**

**Warning: **Mature readers only - this chapter contains graphic violence, sexual content and foul language

* * *

**World's End**

**Chapter 20 - Pushing Onward**

* * *

**Kyoya and Tamaki**

While formulating a plan to rescue Renge, the group of four sat around the table where they had shared a meal. China sketched out a diagram of the area around the Kondo's home as best she could from her memory. She had only seen it once when she and Meri had gone out exploring with Pan and Ari. It was just a few days after the siblings' coup had put Mother in a cage, but she remembered enough to pinpoint the lay of the area.

Meri's first plan was soundly rejected by both young men. "Hell no! That's a horrible idea," Tamaki insisted.

Kyoya agreed, asking, "Why would you possibly want to confront them alone?"

"If I go alone, I don't have to worry about any of you getting hurt. You just  
wait at the designated coordinates until I return with the girl," Meri intoned as if her explanation was utterly obvious.

Tamaki was struck by how silent Chi had been on the subject and decided to call her on it, "Please tell her. Those three will not hesitate to attack her. They will probably just take her captive too."

"Well, if we're lucky, they will," China replied, shocking both boys.

Tamaki gasped and gave the Asian girl an incredulous look, "That's not funny!"

"She's not trying to be funny. She's right. It's best case, really. They will likely secure me in the same place as your friend. They sleep; I escape, kill them while they slumber, and return to the coordinates with her," the blonde girl replied giving a bright, close-lipped smile.

Tamaki blew out a sharp breath. Meri seemed to be taking the prospect of facing his attackers way too lightly, frustrating the young man beyond the point of annoyance and closing in on anger.

"Just stop it with your simplistic answers. Escape? Just like that? They will rape you!" Tamaki's expression was grim as he raised his voice.

"Probably and that will suck, but I'd just Sun Tzu them, and then they wouldn't even see it coming once I had the girl free..." Meri began before Tamaki interrupted.

"Sun Tzu them?" Tamaki asked.

Chi began to explain but Kyoya spoke up first, "To paraphrase, when you are strong, appear weak. When you are brave, appear fearful. Sun Tzu wrote The Art of War. The strategies are helpful in business too. I'm surprised you haven't read it."

Tamaki was growing more angry by the second. "I know who Sun Tzu was," he lied, "Who cares about a damn book! Meri, are you saying you'll have sex with anyone as long as it suits your purpose?" The blonde's question hung in the air like a fouls stench, but no one answered. As the three other's eyed him, Kyoya noticed immediately when Tamaki's anger gave way to hurt, but the change was lost on the blonde's lover.

"Yes," Meri replied stoically, causing Tamaki to stand up, his fists clenched to his sides and his head tilted towards the floor as he walk out on the group. Kyoya had seen this stance before, and it was several steps past sulking for his friend.

Before Meri could react, Kyoya stood up to go after him, "I'll speak to him."

Finding Tamaki sitting on the bed he had just recently shared with Meri, Kyoya sat down next to his friend. The young Suoh was already near tears, so his friend decided to keep quiet and wait for the blonde to speak.

Tamaki ran his hand through the front of his hair and held the locks tightly for a few seconds in an attempt to keep a grip on his sanity. He knew he had been acting like a childish, lovesick middle schooler, but the feeling of being desirable to a woman was what was keeping him together. He needed it, and now he doubted she really wanted him at all.

"I'm an idiot, thinking she loved me. Why did she...," Tamaki muttered.

"While I normally would agree that you are an idiot," Kyoya began with a tease in and attempt to lighten the mood, "I actually think she cares for you," Kyoya replied.

"Don't patronize me," Tamaki demanded, shooting his ebony-haired friend a sharp look.

"I wouldn't dare," Kyoya began in all seriousness, "Meri and Chi have all the leverage here, so that girl had nothing to gain from sleeping with you. She just wanted you. Have you forgotten the effect you have on women?"

Kyoya smiled and raised his eyebrows as he spoke his last sentence, but Tamaki wasn't swayed as he replied, "Just fan girls, not someone like Meri."

"Haruhi," Kyoya began but was quickly cut off.

"Don't talk about her, please. I can't...," the blonde trailed off.

Tamaki seemed to have lost all of his egotism. An aura of self-confidence was what made the half French boy who he was, and seeing him like this was breaking the heart Kyoya kept so hidden and guarded.

The young Ootori decided to use another tactic. Placing his arm around his friend's shoulders, the dark haired boy was surprised when his normally tactile-friendly buddy initially shrank from his touch; however, after taking a deep breath, Tamaki leaned into him, resting his head on the Shadow King's shoulder.

Seeing his opening, Kyoya continued, "Remember when you first moved to Japan, and you had all those crazy misconceptions about Ninjas and kotatsus and such?"

Clearly aggravated, the former host king cut his eyes at his best friend before huffing, "Your point?"

"My point is you shouldn't judge her too harshly. The Chairman took advantage of your childish ignorance of Japan to lovingly tease you, and since you were just a little kid, you believed him," Kyoya replied.

Tamaki sighed, "You're saying she doesn't know any better."

Kyoya shook his head, "No, not exactly, I thought that at first too, but now, knowing my father, I'm fairly certain she was actively taught to treat her own pain and discomfort as collateral damage in these type situations."

Tamaki removed his head from Kyoya's strong shoulder and looked into his friend's eyes. The Ootori boy still had his arm around his friend, and their faces were mere inches apart. The former host king waited for Kyoya to push him away, but he never did. 'What's he thinking?" Tamaki wondered to himself.

Kyoya had always been opposed to a lot of physical contact, but now everything was different. His future, his goals, his inheritance and his all encompassing need to please his father were all things of the past. If he thought about what he wanted in life now, it was right in front of him. Kyoya didn't care where he lived as long as he was with Souh Tamaki.

"Tamaki," Kyoya began, tongue tied and embarrassed for the first time in his life. He wanted to tell his friend how he felt, but he didn't want the moron to go crazy on him or get the wrong idea. "You're important...umm, no that's not what I want to say. You see...I always understood why you thought of the host club as a family, and even though I was only humoring your back then...no, that's not right."

Starting to feel as if he had stepped into an alternate dimension, Tamaki stared at his friend and wondered 'How it was possible that the Shadow King is at a loss for words. Was Kyoya sweating? It just couldn't be possible. Ootori Kyoya never loses his composure.'

Wearing an expression of utter confusion, Tamaki interrupted, "You're freaking me out!"

"Damnit! That's what I was trying to avoid. Do you need a paper bag to breath in or something?" Kyoya asked in all seriousness.

"Shut up, there's no reason to be an ass," Tamaki retorted.

Feeling a little hurt since he was dead serious, Kyoya began to try to explain again, "What I was trying to say is that while I thought of all the other hosts as close friends, you were...you know..." Unable to bring himself to say it, the flustered raven-haired brunette finally replied, "Just don't be an idiot and try to run off again like you did during the Ouran fair."

Playing house with his friend was not a new concept to Tamaki, but Kyoya had always seemed to merely tolerate the game. Backing up a little, the blonde kept his blue-lilac eyes on the steely gray ones before him. 'Why is Kyoya acting so weird?' He thought.

"Where's this coming from, Kyoya? Honestly, where the Hell would I go? Is this because...you know, you don't have to be threatened by Meri. You still get to be mommy," Tamaki replied.

At the absolute limit of his patience, red face and beginning to boil, Kyoya sighed before popping the blonde upside the head and yelling, "Don't be a moron! This isn't a game. I'm saying I love you, and I'm asking if you are willing to spend the rest of your life with me!"

The minute the words left his mouth, the young Ootori wanted to cut out his own tongue. He had not meant to put it in quite those terms, and he definitely had not meant to blurt out those words.

Tamaki chortled, and for just a little while, Kyoya saw his old friend again, "I'm afraid the blinding brilliance of my beauty has struck you mad, Mon Ami. I'm not gay, and neither are you...Riiiight?"

Kyoya slapped his palm over his own face wondering how Tamaki could even ask such a thing. If anyone should be able to understand the concept of spending your life with family, it should be the tall, goofy dumbass sitting next to him. Getting his emotions in check, Kyoya eventually managed to form an intelligent reply, "I'm not talking about being gay or straight, and no, I'm not into guys. I'm talking about spending what remains of my life in this fucked up world with the one person I'd die for!"

Kyoya was still afraid what he was trying to say was coming out all wrong, and the look on his friend's face confirmed it. The brunette wished he could simply slap the memory of the last few minutes out of Tamaki's head.

The blonde teen started to open his mouth to speak, but he didn't have a clue what to say. It sounded as if his best friend had just proposed to him. He loved Kyoya very much, but he didn't want to have sex with him. Thankfully, his friend began talking again before the blonde had to say anything.

"Hear me out. I'm just saying if there was no such thing as sex or physical intimacy, if the concepts didn't even exist, would you want to live your life with Haruhi or Meri or with me?" Kyoya asked, his eyes searching for any signs of an imminent bout of hysteria from Tamaki.

The Souh boy's eyes had dropped to stare at the two hands he had laid in his lap, his fingers tapping the top of his legs nervously. After a long, silent pause, Tamaki gave his reply, "The naive optimist Haruhi fell in love with is all but gone. I can't be that child again, and I can't even think about her and the untainted love we shared without remembering what I've lost...I want things to work with Meri...for some reason, I feel like I need her."

Unsure if he would get punched, Kyoya shifted his body so the embarrassed boy he had his arm around didn't have to see his face while he spoke. Sliding a bit farther on the bed, he positioned himself behind Tamaki and slipped his arms around his waist, allowing the blonde to lean his back against his chest.

This time the Suoh boy didn't flinch. Relaxing his body, Tamaki leaned back and accepted his friend's comfort as he replied, "I'm with you to the end, Kyoya, but I'm still not sure exactly what you're asking of me."

"That's OK, and...it's...you don't..., Kyoya stammered before pulling his thought together, "It...the um...incident just happened. You need to give yourself some time. You don't have to give up on Haruhi."

Rolling his eyes and muttering, "Incident, he calls it," before answering, "I'll never see her again anyway."

"We know where she was. We can look for her," the young Ootori offered.

"No," the blonde replied decisively.

"OK, as long as I know you won't abandon me, we have plenty of time to figure it all out," Kyoya replied.

While the boys were away, the girls devised a strategy the boys found much more palatable. Tamaki thought the risk to Meri was still too high, but he agreed to go along with the plan since she would have three armed people covering her and wouldn't be handing her body over to the Kondos.

Meri found the idea of her puppy worrying about her absolutely precious, and she was actually saddened about having to break his misconceptions before tomorrow. It had to be done though; otherwise, he might try to second guess her or go rogue and get himself or the rest of the group killed.

* * *

**Mori and Honey**

Honey sat outside of the small room his father had used for an office with Mori and his younger brother. The pint-sized dynamo had to suppress laughter as he heard his best friend pretending to go nuts on the prisoner he was interrogating. He and Satoshi had exchange a few smirks, knowing the gentle giant would fight to protect himself or others or for a competitive event, but he was no bruiser looking to beat information out of anyone. Eden's demeanor during the performance had been noteworthy. She was quiet but focused, facing the door with her eyes closed while listening intently.

Now Eden was alone with the prisoner. Takashi had not liked the idea at all, but the guy's wrists were bound, and he was duct taped to a chair. Plus Mori promised his lover she could play good cop, so he waited outside the door rather impatiently for her signal. However, when he heard sobbing, the young man had nearly burst into the office until he realized it was the prisoner and not Eden.

As the three boys stood in slack jowled astonishment while trying to imagine just what the Mori's beautiful lover could have said to make the thug cry, Seiji entered the room behind a young man who was holding his hands up beside his head. Honey was the first to realized his student was holding a gun and asked, "What's going on?"

"The search team found this guy entering our grounds, but he didn't seem to be trying to sneak in, so we don't think he is with the others. He was just strolling along, so we asked if he was a student of the Hunninozuka or Morinozuka dojos. We became suspicious when he said he didn't know what we were talking about."

"Then take him to the holding room and duct tape him until we get a chance to question him further," Honey replied.

When Seiji hesitated to follow his order, the small wonder gave him a stern look. Unsure what to do, the boy stammered, "but Sensai, he knows someone here."

"Who?" Mori asked with mild interest.

"Eden," Seiji replied, "but that's all he would say until he got to see her, so I brought him here."

Mori and Honey exchanged looks. Bringing this stranger in close proximity to Eden before determining his intentions was the last thing their student should have done. The realization let Honey know, he still had a lot of work to do to keep everyone safe, and that was without worrying about some of the other logistical and practical problems they would soon be forced to address.

"What's your business with her?" Satoshi jumped into the conversation, stepping closer to the prisoner and trying to look intimidating.

Looking the boy over, an expression of amusement flashed across man's face. If the adolecsent thought he could scare him, he was sadly mistaken. This stranger was a force to be reckoned with on any day. He had been in scores of fights and only two exceptional challengers were ever consistently able to beat him. The boy in front of him was no match for his strength, speed or fighting skill, and an attack by him would be a bad joke.

Satoshi was pissed off; he didn't like the smug look on the prisoner's face, but Mori was more troubled than angry. Someone who is completely surrounded doesn't have that kind of confidence unless they are completely crazy or they have some hidden advantage. Neither option appealed to the near mute.

Before Mori's younger brother could make a move, Rush turned to face Mori, completely ignoring Satoshi as the non-issue that he saw him as. Taking in the size of the giant standing in front of him, the stranger dropped his arms to his side as he spoke, "You're rather impressive close up. I suppose I can see the draw. She's my sister, you know. You really should have gotten my permission before running off with her. I bet you don't even know her real name. It's actually Sweden. Eden is a nickname."

"Lower it," Mori commanded, nodding toward the gun Seiji was holding, and the student quickly complied with his Sensai's order. A grunt was all that was required to make his brother back down, but Mori could tell Satoshi was angry.

Continuing to eye the tall drink of water he had caught his sister screwing in the convenience store, Rush asked, "Where is she?"

After tapping on the door to the office, Mori slowly opened it to a surprising scene. Eden had her chair pulled close to the prisoner's. The rough looking thug was crying while Takashi's blonde bombshell was wiping his tears with a tissue, "There, there," she cooed sweetly as if talking to a toddler rather than a killer.

Not understanding what he was seeing, Mori frowned before he cleared his throat to get Eden's attention. The prisoner looked up with red eyes, tear stained cheeks and a pitiful expression but quickly looked back down at the floor in shame. Eden turned her head and gave her lover a coy smile.

Looking at the statuesque young woman, Mori said, "visitor."

"OK, we're about finished," standing up, Eden faced her prisoner, "Thank you for your cooperation. I'll send someone in to tend to your wounds soon." She flashed him a super star smile before slipping out the door.

"Hiya Sweets," Rush said with a smile while extending his arms for a hug. Eden's face flashed with pure joy as she saw her brother and ran into his arms. Mori didn't think they looked much like siblings, but he felt ashamed of himself for being jealous and having such thoughts.

"I was wondering if you were ever going to come find me!" She said releasing Rush from the hug and giving him a punch to the arm.

"Hey! You knew exactly where I was," He retorted.

"Still!" Eden pouted unreasonably, making Rush laugh and shake his head, "I see you had that piece of shit blubbering like a baby. You haven't lost your touch."

Eden smirked before replying, "Him? Oh please! Daddy would have never wasted my talents on someone so stupid and weak willed."

Mori's woman grabbed his hand and introduced him as her "lover," making both the strong, silent type and the boy Lolita blush while Satoshi just smirked at his brother teasingly. After making the rest of the introductions, Eden remembered she needed to debrief the others.

Sitting down and crossing her legs as if conducting a board meeting, the stunner began to relay the details, "His name is Suki Hirioki, and he was a low level henchmen in the Yakuza's Sendo syndicate."

Hirioki had spilled his guts to Eden, making Honey wonder what kind of Yakuza squeals so easily. According to the prisoner, inadequate leadership due to many deaths caused by the epidemic and the defection of their leader's heir to a rival syndicate made them an easy target. A new player in the game, going by the name of Caesar, incorporated Sendo into his group, increasing his numbers as well as gaining control of all their weapons and ammunition.

"Bloodshed?" Mori conveyed what he wanted to know with just one word, and Eden understood immediately.

Smiling at her handsome lover, the blonde woman tilted her head and gave him a wink before continuing, "That's what makes this Caesar so interesting. There was none at least not any that could be pinpointed as being caused by his people; however, the Sendo group had a real run of bad luck for a while."

Rush laughed and shook his head, "Let me guess...plans ruined, relations with other groups spoiled, supplies mysteriously cut off, or access to them blocked."

Giggling, "Bingo," Eden chimed.

"Winning without having to fight," Honey's worry was apparent in his voice.

"Exactly," Eden replied, "Hirioki thinks Caesar was a Godsend, the group's savior from peril."

"Idiot," the blonde's brother replied. Mori had been quiet but thoughtfully taking in everything said.

"This Caesar is crafty," Takashi admitted.

"Absolutely, and dangerous...you don't actively seek out heavy hitters with caches of weapons unless you have a mind to use them eventually," Rush answered.

"Caesar sent the men that attacked us, because our group is growing so quickly and has secured a lot of nearby resources. We were lucky, because they were just testing our defenses," Eden reported.

"Lucky?" Honey asked incredulously, "We have casualties!"

"Could have been worse?" Mori jumped to his lady's defense.

"A lot worse...they have a large group and superior firepower but wanted to get someone on the inside to gather intel before deciding if they needed to launch a full scale attack," Eden continued as the boys listened, "The group was unprepared for a battle, because there wasn't suppose to be one."

"Explain," Honey interjected.

Eden nodded and replied, "The group had two missions. When they split up, Caesar's second took a skilled shooter to another location, leaving a lieutenant to lead this mission. When he saw all we had here, he got greedy and went rogue, hoping to overwhelm us with firepower and take what he wanted. They were suppose to come in as beggars looking for help and infiltrate. The stragglers who tried to get in were the ones who refused to go against Caesar's orders."

"Whoa, smart, strategic and detached. I bet Caesar had at least one guy in Sendo before he took them over," Rush spoke, his mind racing through scenarios and forming a hypothesis.

"Are you a soldier, Rush?" Satoshi asked.

"Not officially, but I've done a lot of contract work with the government's military," Rush replied in all honesty. His answer didn't sit well with Honey. He wanted to ask what kind of contract work, but he was afraid his cousin would get angry. Based on what he witnessed, maybe Eden had done some of this contract work too.

"Sweets? Did he tell you what this other mission was?" the girl's brother inquired.

"He didn't know the particulars, only that it involved a rival Yukuza syndicate," She replied.

"It must be the Kasanoda syndicate. We should warn Ritsu!" Honey insisted.

Rush looked over at the small man who seemed to be either be the leader of the group or Eden's lover's second. The young man appeared to garner great respect, so Russia surmised there had to be a lot more to him than meets the eye. Regarding Mori and his quiet, cool demeanor, Eden's brother liked what he saw, a warrior who kept his emotions out of the game and stayed calm. He could definitely work with this man.

"What do you think, Mori? This Ritsu, does he have power? Is a warning the best course of action?" Rush baited the hook.

"An alliance," the stoic, young man didn't disappoint or mince words, making Rush smile and nod.

Before the two men could continue, Eden spoke up, "Russia, where's Pan?"

Her brother's expression turned pained for only a second before his training redirected him to keep his face neutral in front of the others. However, the young man figured Eden must really trust the group, being she was willing to admit the existence of a third player in their group.

Respecting his sister's instincts, the young man decided to reply truthfully, "He went home for her, and please, don't call me Russia."

The gorgeous blonde nodded, knowing exactly who the "her" in question was. Eden hoped her most beautiful brother wouldn't get his heart broken, but she feared it was inevitable. Meri loved Pan, but not in the way he loved her. They clung to one another for comfort and commiseration. Meri would be looking to move on from the past, just another mission complete.

"So Rush, we hope you will stay with us," Mori said without consulting Honey first. The small man would have let him stay, but he would have liked to discuss some trepidations in private first.

"It would be my honor to join you. I would like to offer my help with the threat you are under from Caesar. My sister can vouch for my competence," Rush replied.

Mori nodded, placing an arm around the woman who drove him senseless but made him incredibly happy. In the last couple of hours, he had realized he barely knew anything about her; yet, standing there next to her and feeling her warmth, he couldn't manage to care. He would just have to learn along the way, because he was never going to let her go.

"We should discuss how to approach Kasanoda," said Satoshi. The others nodded in agreement and prepared to do some strategizing.

* * *

**Nekozawa**

The road was dry and dusty, so Britta had been happy when Nekozawa offered his car for the trip. The journey was over an hour on foot, so driving had saved a lot of time. Currently, she stood in front of a small and ragged looking apartment complex with several of her underlings standing guard. Kirimi had been living there when Britta and Manny found her.

The building's handyman, a twenty-five-year-old, high school dropout named Soma, had take advantage of the fact that so many young women living there had been left orphaned and promised to take care of them. Unfortunately, his real intent had been human trafficking. His former side job, dealing drugs, had allowed him to string the girls out, helping him achieve his goal that much easier.

Remembering her first encounter at this place, Britta recalled Manny's actions. Her brother loves the game probably even more than the power. He wants his people to feel close to him, willing to go into battle for him without hesitation. To achieve such a situation he must give the people justice and show humanity. Unfortunately, Manny's ego is far more powerful than his ability to empathize with others. He has a heart but only truly shows it to a select few, and often his head isn't able to interpret what his heart would want him to do. He just isn't wired that way. With the exception of the pure affection he has toward his family, most of Manny's humanity is pure pretense, causing him to miscalculate at times. He needs Britta's input to see situations as the masses would.

The lovely, celtic-looking redhead had been unnerved by Manny's initial reaction to Soma's business. He thought the bastard was resourceful, able to keep the girls happy while making them commodities. Manny even thought Soma might make a good ally. She had to point out the injustice of the situation and explain how the masses would react towards tolerance of Soma's business.

After Britta's private counsel, Manny made a rousing, public appeal to his people, speaking of love and respect for woman and the necessity of "protecting our sisters in arms and the women who would become future wives and help repopulate their dwindling existence." Having taken the time to find out what made even the worst of his people tick, her brother had pressed all the right buttons, making the group fall all over themselves to be saviors to the damsels in distress.

Before they ever confronted Soma, he had already lost. Manny had ordered main access to the place cut off, potential customers were warned of dangerous conditions ahead and detoured, keeping them from ever running across Soma's business. Once returning customer's were told the apartment building had been quarantined due to the outbreak of a new, unknown contagion, they couldn't get away from there fast enough. The last two nails in the coffin were the elimination of Soma's access to his drug source and Soma's loss of his gasoline powered generator due to sabotage by a man on the inside who Manny had managed to turn.

The girls looked terrible when they finally got to them. Outwardly, they were still attractive, but they were strung out of their minds, incoherent shells of human beings. Even most of the young men they had liberated from the juvenile detention center were disgusted and utterly livid when they saw how young many of the girls were. One man even found a cousin there, and it was all Manny could do to keep him from slitting Soma's throat right then. Her brother was too smart for that though. He knew justice meant a trial, so he set up a tribunal. One man and one women elected by the people to serve with himself as a jury. Britta presented the evidence against Soma including testimony of some of the girls once they had helped them through the painful process of sweating the drugs out of their systems.

Soma had been found guilty of kidnapping, rape, assault and several other infractions. Most people wanted his blood, but Manny pulled out the charisma, speaking of his recent liberation of disenfranchised young men from a detention center and how under the right circumstances anyone could lose their way. It almost made Britta laugh hearing her brother speak of forgiveness and rehabilitation. She knew he just wanted to make Soma utterly indebted to him. The final ruling was that they were establishing a government that had not yet existed when Soma committed his crimes, so death was an inappropriate sentence. However, his crimes were an affront to basic human decency, so they could not go unpunished. In the end, Soma was put in Manny's custody to labor as an unpaid, unrewarded servant, given only enough to provide for basic human sustenance for a period of no less than two years but no more than ten. Ten years in their current situation was akin to a life sentence anyway. Of course, Manny could have cared less about the man's life, he just wanted a resourceful lackey. Of the three men working with Soma, two were convicted as accomplices, but the guard who had become Manny's spy claimed to have only taken the job as a means to 'protect the girls as much as he could and look for an opening to liberate them', an assertion that had certainly come from her brother's own lips. Manny rewarded him for his valuable service as his spy by making him one of his lieutenants. In fact, he put him in charge of 'corrections', supervising the other three men.

One of the women living in the apartment, had been the cousin of Kirimi's servant, Kuretake. The nanny had taken the little, blonde child and fled when the epidemic was in full swing in Tokyo, but having not been able to get far due to rioting and traffic, the two took refuge in the apartment complex to wait out The Long Night. Kuretake had managed to survive, but her cousin had not.

Manny had immediately been smitten with Kirimi, and luckily Soma had yet to find a customer base interested in someone her age. In fact, even he had been fond of the little girl's entertaining bluntness. He'd used her to bring the ladies their meals, brush their hair and help them wash and fix up before seeing customers.

Now the place was more of a hostess club than a brothel. The girls greet customers and provide companionship and refreshments for weary travelers, convincing them of what a wonderful place they have found, governed by a benevolent leader. The girls were also an excellent resource for gathering information on neighboring areas from these travelers, the perfect spies. In turn, Manny looked out for the young ladies, fixing their generator, providing security and making sure they had everything they needed. Some of the girls, who liked pretty things or were after something in particular, would provide some extra services if the right incentive was offered. Manny didn't care about side work as long as it was done voluntarily, kept off the books and didn't interfere with his objectives. The one incentive not allowed was drugs.

"Is she in there?" the cloaked man dressed all in black with strands of dark hair hanging out from under his hood asked.

Britta knew it was show time, so she looked at him pensively before replying, "She was when I left."

Climbing the steps, Nekozawa followed Britta until they reached apartment 303, where all the business was done at least any business sanctioned by Manny. A guard greeted them at the door and quickly recognized Britta.

"I see you've brought some friends, Captain," the burley, young man with five o'clock shadow greeted.

"Yes, be sure you extend them every courtesy. They need refreshment and rest," the red-head answered.

"I'd rather just find my sister. Then my people and I will head back home," the disguised blonde replied.

"You are welcome to look for her, but the girls love it here. They've got a good deal and are well looked after. She probably won't want to leave," the guard replied.

"She's hardly old enough to make such a decision on her own," Nekozawa retorted.

"Haven't you heard? Thirteen is the new twenty-one. Anyone over twenty these days is considered an 'elder'," the guard replied.

"She's just a little girl!" the half Russian boy spat angrily.

"You won't find anyone under fifteen working here, bosses orders," the guard replied calmly.

'This one's been trained by Manny himself,' Britta thought before she asked, "Where is Kirimi?"

"Oh, the wee princess is your sister? Good luck getting her back. Caesar took her and that maid of hers. He's taken quite a liking to the little one's smart mouth," the guard laughed.

Nekozawa was livid. Grabbing Britta's arm, he screamed, "You said she was here!"

Out of reflex, the red haired girl, quickly turned the tables on him, twisting his arm behind his back with enough force it nearly broke. The young man was in tears, not just for his arm but from worrying about his little sister.

"Will...he...he won't hurt her, will he?" the boy wept after collapsing to his knees.

Britta felt bad. If it were Ari, India or Chi in question, she would have been upset too. "No, no, this is good news," she began, releasing the boy and massaging the strained area of his arm, "Caesar is my brother. Kirimi could not be in better hands."

Reassured that his sister was fine, Nekozawa allowed his people to enter the hostess club and have some refreshments with the ladies. Much like Ouran's host club, the apartment had been set up with a lot of comfortable seating around tables. The kitchen was separated from the living room only by a bar with a cut out window, and the bar had been stocked with bowls of peanuts, crackers and store-salvaged cookies as well as a pitcher of ice water. The ladies walked around serving tea, stopping to converse with their guests along the way.

On closer inspection, the young magician noticed way more differences than similarities between this club and Ouran's. There were no themes, no costumes and most notably only two male hosts, and those two clearly didn't cater to female clientele. Nekozawa found himself glad he hadn't brought many female members of the black magic club with him, because this was just embarrassing.

* * *

**Kasanoda**

Mei sat up in bed watching Ritzu Kasanoda pace the floor. He had been like this ever since his friend, Nekozawa, had left with about half of the former members of the black magic club. At Ouran the boys had bonded at being considered as outcasts by a large portion of the student body and had become best friends. Nekozawa tried to get Ritzu interested in his club, but it just wasn't the angry-looking boy's thing. Even after Kasanoda found acceptance in the gardening club, the two young men remained close friends. Now the Kasanoda syndicate consisted of a handful of remaining younger members, most of the gardening club and all of the members of the black magic club.

"I never should have let them go," Ritzu lamented, "If anything happens to them it is my fault."

"No, it is not," Mei replied, "Nekozawa would not be dissuaded from going after his sister, and his people would not let him go on his own. He's not helpless and alone. Half of his group went with him."

"I know, but they are just kids,...spoiled, pampered, rich kids. They don't stand a chance," Ritzu replied ruefully.

"That's not true. Besides you armed them and sent some back up with them," Mei reminded her boyfriend.

"Only two men," Ritzu refused to cry but felt like it. He believed showing such weakness would dishonor his deceased father.

"Any more and the rest of us would be left at risk. You sent your best man," she reasoned, but knowing he has sent his friend, Tetsuya, only made him feel even worse.

* * *

**Tamaki and Kyoya**

After giving the boys some basic firearms training, Meri decided it was time to give her lover a hard shot of reality. Disguising her intentions as a tour of the facility, Meri began to point out different places on a map and use the the security monitors to show off the first four sectors, Alpha, Brava, Charlie and Delta. Seeing it all on foot would have taken forever. Kyoya surmised the majority of the military installation was actually about two miles away topside of the Ootori compound but could be reached from underground with a long ride down the southwestern corridor and a trip up on an elevator.

"The farm hidden inside the gates of the base makes up the entirety of Charlie sector," Meri flipped some switches and Tamaki noted a barn and a chicken coop on the monitor.

"With so many people working right around you guys, how did they never find out you were here? How could Dr. Ootori be sure no one would blab?" Tamaki inquired.

"Technically, due to an agreement Dr. Ootori made with the government for our services, all of those areas were made part of a classified military base. You were given the coordinates to come in through the Echo sector gate which is mostly barren. All the other sectors were manned by military personnel, and for them, blabbing would have been treason. Plus only a select few even knew Echo existed."

"So no one has come to loot that farm?" Kyoya wondered aloud.

"It's hidden behind a large fence with signs that read: Danger - Biohazard," Meri explained before continuing, "Are you guys sure you really want to see how the other half lives?"

As Tamaki and Kyoya nodded, their hostess actually felt a little sorry for them as she began their tour of Echo sector. Breaking them in slowly, she started with areas that were only slightly oppressive such as one of the guard shacks as well as the Ootori police living quarters. Moving on, Meri pointed out some of the simulation testing rooms.

"Why are some of them empty?" Kyoya asked.

"Except for the computer simulations, testing areas are staged for different scenarios. You meet the objective, whatever it may be, and you complete your mission," She explained.

"What happens if you can't figure it out or you do it wrong?" Tamaki asked.

"You would get beaten," Meri replied nonchalantly; her face showed about as much emotion as Kyoya normally allowed on his own.

"Beaten?" Like whipped?" the blonde man replied in horror.

"Sometimes. The cane seemed most popular, but mostly just for the cogs like Chi. They don't heal rapidly. For the physical models, it was usually the closed fist of a brother or sister," the unfazed girl elaborated, "It was supposedly more effective if the punishment came from someone you love. For the last year or so, only Yoshio was allowed to punish me though."

Kyoya blanched at hearing a teenaged girl refer to his father so informally, especially considering the other girl had referred to him as Dr. Ootori. He could just imagine how far their relationship had gone, and it made his stomach turn. Even Kyoya himself would never have dared use his father's first name, or he would have found himself on the wrong end of a good belting.

"I would have refused!" Tamaki insisted.

"OK, but then your sibling would get a harsher punishment, and you would get to share it," Meri replied. "Most of us would fight back to help alleviate the guilt of the sibling forced to beat us."

"That's the worse thing I have ever heard!" Tamaki wailed.

"I think that's enough about that subject," Kyoya interjected, "Tamaki doesn't need to hear this right now."

"Let me ask you, Kyoya. What are your plans after tomorrow when we get your friend back?" Meri replied.

"Umm, I'm not really sure. I assumed we were welcome to stay here awhile," Kyoya looked into Meri's eyes but saw nothing but a dead and soulless void, drastically different from the expression she wore just before the current topic of discussion.

"You are one of us, Kyoya. You and yours can stay indefinitely, but I need you to understand the reality of where you are. Chi and I have been given a descent picture of what goes on in your world. We've seen your news reports, read your magazines and watched your movies, but you know nothing of us."

Tamaki had been remarkably quiet during the exchange, and Kyoya was thrown off when he noticed his friend was holding Meri's hand again. Taking a deep breath, he replied, "I realize that, but..."

Cutting him off, Meri continued, "If you are going to stay here, I need to show you the rehabilitation room."

Tamaki finally spoke up again, "Show us everything."

Meri smiled at him and leaned in to kiss his lips. The former host king returned her kiss but only briefly. A hit of embarrassment dancing over his cheeks, Tamaki quickly set his gaze on the floor to avoid Kyoya's eyes.

"Follow me," Meri said ominously as she led the boys a ways down the corridor.

Tapping a few code numbers into a panel facilitated the opening of a second panel. Entering the rehabilitation room proved to be lengthy process, causing Tamaki to become anxious while Kyoya was simply annoyed. Once the three were clear of the first door, the young Ootori sighed, realizing a vault requiring a retinal scan still stood in their way.

"China and Ari reset all of these to accept our scans," the young girl explained, leaning in to press her head against the forehead rest of the scanner.

"Ari?" Tamaki was quick to recognize a new player in the game.

"Another sister of mine. I'll get to all of that in just a bit. For now, pull the neckline of your shirts up over your noses and brace yourselves," Meri cautioned.

Tamaki took a deep breath before doing as instructed. He didn't know what to expect, but he was smart enough to know he wouldn't be seeing anything good. Far more jaded and familiar with the worst his father had to offer, Kyoya didn't think he would be surprised.

"I need a thumb print from one of you. Chi has it set to accept any print, but I don't have any," Meri said wiggling her fingers at the boys.

Taking the girl's hand, Kyoya turned it over to examine her palm. Fortune tellers would make no money off of Meri. She had no fingerprints, and her palm was smooth. Placing his thumb on the scanner, Kyoya left it in place until he heard the loud popping sound of the vault's locking mechanism springing open.

"Shirts," Meri insisted. Tamaki had already complied, but Kyoya took just a second to pull his up over his mouth and nose.

After passing through the vault's entrance, the boys were surprised to find themselves in a tight foyer. The space was large enough for all three of them, but only as long as everyone kept their arms by their sides. Just in front of them an ordinary, rust colored door with a broken padlock stood in the middle of a thick concrete wall, painted a dreary hue somewhere between off white and milky yellow.

The foreboding feeling the boys were experiencing was compounded by the foul smell. As soon as the door to the vault opened, the stench hit Kyoya who released a horse cough. The ebony-haired Ootori thought he would rather have his entire body wallpapered with wet diapers, old fish, and sweaty gym socks than to continue choking back the stench currently attacking his nostrils.

Tamaki sputtered as Meri pushed the door open and led them inside while Kyoya choked back bile and pawed at his watering eyes. Looking over to check on his friend, the dark featured boy found a very pale Tamaki attempting to steady himself against the wall with one hand while his other hand covered his mouth. The blonde worked hard not to vomit, gagging every few seconds.

"What the hell am I smelling?!" Kyoya choked out between coughs.

"Pungent huh?" Meri laughed.

"This is funny?" Tamaki managed.

Shrugging, "I find it helps to keep a sense of humor about things. You can get through anything that way, but you never really get use to this smell. After being in here a couple of days, it doesn't faze you nearly as much though," the girl replied.

"What could you possibly find amusing here?" Tamaki said, absolutely appalled.

Meri laughed again, "Well, currently, your reaction."

Kyoya repeated his question, "What is it?"

"No matter how many times you clean, the smell of the mixture of dried feces, old urine, and blood just never go away..." Meri began.

"Explain," Kyoya was starting to get as annoyed as he was disgusted.

"If you made a major faux pas, like if you royally messed up a training exercise by being 'killed' in it rather that just failing or if you got caught breaking one of Yoshio's social rules for a second offense, or worst of all, you managed to piss off Mother on a personal level, you would be sent to this luxurious Hell hole," Meri giggled and outstretched her arms to emphasize their surroundings as she explained, her face animated as if she were retelling a classic fairytale, "Minimum stay is six hours, max could be weeks."

Kyoya moved to speak, but his shirt slipped down from his face, and he gagged as if the smell had entered his mouth and swam down his throat. Before he could recover, his hostess made her way over to one of many contraptions filling the room. Tamaki grabbed the girl's thin hand and squeezed hard as they approached what looked like a coffin with small holes drilled into it in several places.

"This one is called The Slab, because the bottom is very hard and uncomfortable. It's roomy though, so you can flip back and forth to shift your weight from one side to the other if you are small enough. I only got this one once for telling Mother to go screw herself," Meri explained, opening the lid of the box to show light wood stained much darker in some places.

"How long?" Kyoya asked.

"How should I know. The lights stay on bright, so you can't tell if it's day or night. Mother was pissed about me having such an easy time with this one. I even manage to hold everything in for what seemed like a long time, but she kept giving me water with a straw, and I was so thirsty. I always got The Cramp thereafter," Meri took a few steps and stopped in front of a shorter, smaller box.

"Hold everything?" Tamaki stammered.

"The cramp?" Kyoya was curious as well.

"While you're locked in any of these beauties, you don't get bathroom breaks. You just hold it until you can't," Meri explained before pointing, "This is The Cramp."

Some of the box was wooden, probably at least the frame, but it looked as if it was made mostly of leather. It had a small, lattice-covered, square-shaped cutout at the head, but no other ventilation. Kyoya marveled at the size. At 5'11, there was no way he could have fit inside of it, and at six foot, Tamaki would likely have to break both of his legs to fit. Meri was shorter than himself, but not by a lot. The young brunette could not imagine how his hostess had fit into the box.

"How...how did?" Kyoya began until Meri opened the box up completely. The smell that escaped its confines was nauseating enough to choke a maggot. Hopping onto the table as if she were getting on a swing set, Meri scooted into the box and pulled her knees up to chest before flipping the lid partially closed.

"It works like this," the young girl started to say before Tamaki slapped the lid off of the box and lifted her out like he was lifting a baby from a crib.

"Gross! Don't ever do that. That thing is filthy," Meri's lover insisted, turning her around and brushing her off as if the germs would disappear.

"The stains are old. It's been cleaned," Meri replied.

"It smells like cave full of bear shit!" Tamaki replied before gagging. The young man, who had forgotten to keep his mouth and nose covered, continued to gag uncontrollably before finally up chucking his last meal onto the floor.

"I think we've seen enough," Kyoya said, worried about the psychological effect this was having on the already traumatized Tamaki.

"No way, this is the little league. There's so much more to see, The Wrench, The Swarm, The Drip, The Bend and my personal favorite, The Water Wench," Meri continued oblivious to how much Tamaki was suffering.

"We get the point," Kyoya replied gently but firmly. Tamaki was still gagging and waiting for a second wave.

"Alright then, just one more thing," Meri's gaze met Kyoya's, as she pointed to what looked like a very small auditorium of seats in the front of the room.

"Your a smart guy, Puppy. What do you think this is?" Meri asked.

Tamaki spat, coughed and tried to catch his breath. Kyoya started to intervene, but his friend held up his hand to stop him.

"It looks like box seats," the sickly, young man replied.

"We got it!" Kyoya snarled, glaring at his tour guide through his glasses. He was use to being able to intimidate anyone, but Meri had dealt closely with his father. She wasn't afraid.

Instead of shrinking, this slender, blonde girl with a child's laugh and vacant eyes stepped into the young man's personal space, staring silently in his eyes before whispering softly, "No, you really don't."

Kyoya remained silent and still as the lost, little girl closed in on him. Suddenly, he was the boy in his father's study again, incurring the man's wrath. Looking at Meri and then over to Tamaki, everything was so clear to him now. If he had never met and become friends with the French-Japanese boy, his own eyes would likely share Meri's dead, vacant stare.

Sickened by the unforgivable transgressions his father had visited on Meri and the others, Kyoya vowed he would take responsibility. These kids, roaming Japan and doing what was anyone's guess, were his problem now. Taking another look at Tamaki, Kyoya hoped his friend would be on board for what he had in mind. Unable to stand anymore of the ghastly atmosphere and horrid odor, Suoh fled out the door, leaving Meri and Kyoya to their stand-off.

"Dropping his stare-off with the girl, "Give us a minute," Kyoya said before running after his friend. Quickly catching up with him, the brunette found Tamaki sitting in the corner of the outside corridor, trying to keep himself from hyperventilating.

Kyoya sat down next to his friend and encouraged him to breath slowly. Tears were running steadily down Tamaki's face, and the once beauty conscience boy was wiping his nose with his own shirt. The pitiful sight was killing Kyoya. Reaching over, he took Tamaki's hand in his but said nothing.

"Kyoya, what are you doing?" the other teenager asked, tearful but without anger.

"The only thing I can do. If I had never met you, I would be as broken as her. I could have even turned into my father. I was on that path," the brunette squeezed his friend's hand. Tamaki's looked defeated, a shell of the young man Kyoya knew.

"Please Tamaki, I need you. If you give up now, I don't know what I will do," the young Ootori pleaded.

"I think you two will like the next room better. It will be the last on our tour," Meri replied softly, having slipped up next to them unnoticed. She felt guilty for pushing the harsh reality on her fragile lover.

"Sorry about vomiting back there. I can clean it up," Tamaki offered, pulling his hand out of Kyoya's and reaching up for Meri's.

"Why? You think it will make the room smell bad?" Meri deadpanned, bringing just a hint of a smile to the young man's face.

Helping Tamaki to his feat, the girl lead the boys onward to an oddly clinical-looking room with several alcoves. The lighting was a muted blue around each alcove, but regular, incandescent lights hung from the ceiling. Utterly minimalistic, the room contained no seats or personal knick knacks of any kind. The walls had been stark white but now sported a few crayon drawings, a poem and some other writing.

Each alcove contained an oblong-shaped sleeping pod designed to serve two people. Some of the pods were open, showing rumbled, white sheets and two pillows while other pods had their domes retracted, shielding the sleep space from light or prying eyes. Kyoya noted small placards over each pod, each denoting the name of a different country.

"What's all that about?" Kyoya asked, pointing to the nameplates.

Meri shook her head in disgust and gave a short snort, "Partially DNA markers but mostly Daddy's little joke. What else would a megalomaniac name his kids. So ridiculous...we all shorten them."

"So you're America and Chi is China?" Tamaki pointed to the alcove with the corresponding placards.

"Ugh, yes, but don't ever call me that. Chi is actually fine with being called China though." Meri answered.

"DNA markers?" Kyoya was very interested in the science involved.

"None of us are genetically related, just whipped up in the same lab. I guess it's easier to serve an international client base if you can offer a product that will blend into the desired environment. I don't even know if we have mothers. Chi never found all of the detailed records. I think your father had them hid somewhere, so no one could steal his work and duplicate his results," Meri explained, seemingly unaffected.

Placing her hand over the back on her neck and lifting her long tresses, Meri took the opportunity to show the boys her data port and explain how it allowed her to co-sleep with China. Tamaki placed his index and middle fingers over the port and lightly ran them over the hard, metal circle, shocked he had not noticed it when the two had been intimate. Kyoya wished he could say he was surprised by his father's willingness to drill holes into the skulls of children.

* * *

**Haruhi and the Twins**

"Damn it, that's the last of our toothpaste, Kaoru. Now what I'm I suppose to do?" Hikaru screeched.

"I'm sorry, but I need to brush my teeth too. Borrow some from Haruhi until we can get some more," Kaoru replied.

"If we can get some more is more like it. Every time we go out, there is less and less of everything to be found," the dominate twin began, "Well enjoy, you minty-fresh, mother fucker."

"Heeeeekaru!" Kaoru whined, "How can you speak to me like that. I swear your temper has gotten worse. Maybe you need to go see India to find out if it has anything to do with your head injury."

"My temper has to do with losing everything right down to basic commodities, not some stupid bump to the head," Hikaru replied.

Reaching for his brother's hand, tears in his eyes, "It wasn't just a bump to the head. You were unconscious for awhile. India kept you in the infirmary for three days," Kaoru choked back his sadness.

His twins tears tugged at his heart, and the older twin felt bad for making his brother cry, "I'm sorry, Kaoru. I think I'm just upset that Kendra won't put be back on regular duty yet. I hate fishing, and hunting is worse!"

Just then Haruhi shlepped into the room and fell back on her bed. The three of them were rooming together since everyone thought she was a boy anyway. Groaning, the girl sat back up and looked at her friends.

"What's your problem?" Hikaru asked.

"Stupid whiners making more work for me! Why can't they just do their work? Is it really that hard that they have to complain all the time?" Haruhi lamented.

"If they complain, give them shittier assignments for the day like bathroom cleaning duty," Hikaru replied.

"Hey someone's got to do it. That's why we rotate cleaning crew so everyone takes a turn," the cross-dressing girl replied.

"Maybe you should rotate the kitchen crew too," Kaoru considered.  
"I thought about that, but cooking and baking for a large group requires skill. The kitchen manager can't retrain a new crew every week," she explained.

"I guess not," Kaoru replied, "so Hikaru is right. Make those crybaby bitches join cleaning crew for the day if they aren't happy with their positions. Then maybe the next day they will appreciate getting to smell bread baking all day."

Haruhi laughed. The twins made a good point. She considered doing just that the next time some prissy, rich girl or spoiled, rich bastard complained about his post.

"How are you feeling, Hikaru?" Haruhi asked.

"A lot better now that you are here," he smiled at the short-haired brunette.

"Well, I still need to put in two more hours for the day, so I'm headed to the laundry," Kaoru said, knowing Hikaru wanted some time alone with Haruhi.

Sitting down on the bed beside the girl, the dominate twin took her hand in his. The two weren't exactly dating, but Haruhi had grown much more tolerant of Hikaru's touch lately. Even though she still loved Tamaki and felt guilty, she found being close to the twin quite comforting.

"They caught your attackers, right?" Haruhi asked.

"Yeah, apparently, Kendra heard me yell and lead a rescue. The other guys said she clocked the hell out of those two guys. They had to carry one of them out of there," he began before looking down sadly, "I had already killed the girl."

"It's not like you meant to do it. You were just trying to defend yourself," the brown-eyed girl replied.

"I know...hey, can we talk about something else. There's something I want to ask you," Hikaru inquired.

"Um sure," Haruhi replied, "What's on your mind?"

"Well, we've been dancing around this for awhile...and, well,..I..I think it's time to move forward. Will you be my girlfriend?"

"Hikaru, I don't know. I mean what about Tamaki? I still have feelings for him. Plus even if I weren't still in love with Tamaki, it would be complicated with everyone thinking I'm a boy."

"Look, I understand you still care for Tono, but it's probable that we will never even see him again. Do you think he's waiting for you?"

Haruhi seemed to consider what Hikaru said for a moment before answering, "Absolutely, I know Tamaki would...no, is waiting for me. I'm sure he's working on a way to get up to Mt. Fuji to find me."

Hikaru sighed, "OK, I hope you don't end up getting your heart broken. I'll wait a little longer." Leaning forward he gave the girl a kiss on the lips, slipping his tongue in her mouth.

Pulling away Haruhi smiled before asking, "Did you use my bubblegum flavored toothpaste?"

* * *

**Tamaki and Kyoya**

Hours after the conclusion of the tour from Hell, Kyoya laid restlessly in bed. The events of the day had him keyed up and unable to sleep, and the uncomfortable straining in the crotch of his pants wasn't helping. Rolling off of his shoulder and onto his back, the brunette was startled to find he wasn't alone.

"What the Hell are you doing here?" He snapped.

"The smell of your testosterone overload is keeping me awake. Do something about it or I will," Meri hissed, running an index finger down his bare chest and poking his navel.

"Ouch," Kyoya spoke in a whisper now, terrified his best friend would walk in and see him in bed with his lover, "Didn't Tamaki give you what you needed?"

Rolling her eyes, "What I needed? I need sleep, and you're keeping me awake."

"Wait,...you can smell that?" Kyoya asked.

"Another one of your father's precious gifts to me," Meri snipped, pulling her shirt off over her head.

"What ARE you doing," Kyoya quibbled with weakening resolve as his eyes roamed over the girl's bare breasts. Meri offered no answers as she slipped out of her pants and pulled the drawstring on Kyoya's.

"Stop it! Tamaki could walk in here at any minute," the young man agonized.

Undeterred, Meri reached down Kyoya's pants and began to gently stroke him. His chest beginning to heave and his body betraying him, the young man swore, "Fuck," as he grabbed both of the girls hands, pushed her on her back and pinned her to the bed.

Stiff and throbbing, Kyoya could feel himself pressing against the girl's thigh through the thin material of his surgical, scrub pants. As Meri bucked her hips upward to grind against him, the young man found himself angered not only by the girl's brazenness but by his inability to refuse her.

Thrusting gently, Kyoya enjoyed the friction his movements created while he admonished his nocturnal visitor, "Don't you even care about Tamaki's feelings?"

"Don't you?" She retorted, hooking her thumbs under his waistband and freeing his length with one good tug.

"Damn," He swore, tightening his grip on her her wrists and pushing them into the mattress, "You like being in charge? Well, you can forget about it," Kyoya leaned down to roughly catch Meri's mouth with his own, practically eating her alive.

She matched his hungry kiss, still enjoying the newness of the sensation, but she allowed him to hold her down. Breaking from the kiss, Kyoya worked his way down her with the same intensity, stopping to taste the most sensitive areas and causing her to offer a lusty growl.

"Don't you move," Kyoya demanded as he released one of her wrists and slipped his hand down to roughly prepare her.

After another forceful kiss, he ordered, "Spread wide."

Goosebumps raised on Meri's skin and her loins burned with desire as she obeyed. She hadn't expected to be so turned on by her former lover's son. She found herself craving Kyoya's touch with even more intensity than she had hated Yoshio's.

The young man's fingers stayed in place as his tongue brushed Meri's navel and he drug his teeth across her stomach a few times. "You're not in charge. Don't you move, Kyoya taunted as he blew cool breath on the bundle of sensitive nerves above her opening, causing her to release a muted whimper.

A wicked, arrogant smile played on Kyoya's lips as he lifted his head to look at Meri's eyes. No longer vacant, the sandy-haired girl's eyes burned with passion and longing.

Hiding his own agonizing desire behind false bravado, the handsome lover pushed onward, "Do you want me to fuck you?"

Meri nodded, her chest heaving as she panted, but Kyoya had no intention on letting her off so easily. Laughing mercilessly, he insisted, "Then ask me."

"Fuck me," Meri whispered.

"No," Kyoya's eyes narrowed as he stared at his lover's confused expression, "I said ASK me."

Meri felt strange. Every man she had ever slept with, at least the four she hadn't been roofied into forgetting, had been at her mercy. Even a wounded and pitiful Tamaki, whose pride was chaffing from recent humiliation, had quickly bared all and jumped at the chance to have her. She wondered if Kyoya was somehow immune to her body chemistry's tricks.

Struggling to maintain control of himself and choking down the desire to forget his own demands in favor of jumping the woman beneath him, Kyoya maintained his icy stare until Meri spoke, "Are you going to take me?"

'Clever girl,' Kyoya thought, unable to suppress the smirk dancing on his lips and the smile it brought to his eyes. He refused to let her get away with it.

"Do you want me to?" He asked seductively, his fingers continuing to stroke her pleasure zones.

"Yes please," she finally gave in to an extent.

Smiling and knowing he had won, Kyoya played one last card, "Soon...you just relax and do as you're told."

Shuttering, Meri felt Kyoya's tongue and lips join his fingers in pleasuring her. Soon Kyoya's careful attention pushed her over the edge of sanity, causing her to cry out, alerting him of her imminent climax. Warm wetness pushed his fingers out of his lover before he placed the two digits in his mouth.

Without warning Kyoya positioned himself and slammed into Meri's wet warmth, causing her to reward him with a startled squeal. Willing himself to delay release, the young man began a deep, punishing rhythm, eliciting whimpering sounds of pleasure from the girl beneath him until she gasped and her muscles tightened, spasming with a frenzy.

Not giving her time to recover, Kyoya removed himself from her body and demanded, "Turn over and get on your knees."

Breathy but not strained or exhausted, Meri complied, obeying her lover's further instructions to prop herself on her forearms. Kyoya balanced on his knees and got into position, entering slowly this time. Still on his knees, Kyoya eased down into a kneeling position as he pulled the slender blonde backwards towards him until she sat impaled on his lap. The handsome brunette wrapped his arms around her with one hand caressing her breasts while the other stroked above the tightly packed opening in a circular motion. Nuzzling against Meri's neck, Kyoya breathed in her body's fragrance, a mixture of her own sweet scent blending with the comfortingly familiar smell of Tamaki.

Becoming impatient as her lover held her still, Meri attempted to move her leg to get some leverage, causing Kyoya to lightly slap her leg before admonishing, "Hey, I already screwed you senseless, so now be still so I can make love to you."

Settling down, Meri obeyed her lover as he began to move, stroking her body as he gave her a sweet, smooth ride. The decreased speed helped Kyoya to hold back, but he knew he couldn't go much longer. Working his fingers frantically, he was relieved to feel a sudden, sharp increase in wetness as Meri clamped tightly around him again, causing him to push in deeply and climax within her.

Separating their bodies, Kyoya held tight to his lover as he collapsed, flopping over on his back as he sought to catch his breath. Wiggling out of his grasp, Meri said, "I need to use the bathroom," before she slipped away, leaving him by himself.

Immediately missing her warmth and scent, Kyoya began to feel a small pang of melancholy until he heard a familiar voice call his name. Gasping and startled, the youngest Ootori son was filled with a mixture of guilt and self-hatred as the person he loved more than anyone else in the world asked, "Can I come in? I don't want to be alone."

So much craziness and new information had bombarded the two of them in the past few hours, Kyoya could hardly believe it had been less than a full day since Tamaki was assaulted. They hadn't even made it through one night yet, and the two of them had both utterly lost themselves.

"Ta...Tamaki, umm sure," Kyoya replied, not knowing how long his friend had been there or how he would react when Meri returned from the restroom. As the last living Souh made his way through the bedroom door, Kyoya retrieved his glasses from the bedside table in order to search his friend's face for signs of anger. Instead, once his eyes focused, he noted Tamaki stood at the side of the bed, bare-chested and clothed only in a pair of boxer shorts.

Pulling the pants bunched around his thighs back up with one hand, Kyoya grabbed a handful of the covers with the other and pulled them back for his friend. Tamaki slipped between the sheets and laid silently for a few seconds. If he heard the shower running from the nearby bathroom, the blonde didn't mention it as he stared at this friend's face as if struggling for words.

Laying on his side and extending his arms openly, Kyoya spoke first, "Come here."

Without question, Tamaki slipped into his friend's arms. The unprecedentedly emotional Ootori turned to lay on his back while sliding his arms around his friend's waist, encouraging the blonde to slip in closer. Tamaki wasn't comfortable enough to lay over Kyoya completely, so he laid only his chest and head down on his friend while his legs laid adjacently on the mattress. The blonde felt startled by how good the sensation of his skin against Kyoya's felt. Tilting his head, Kyoya rested his cheek against the top of his friend's head, breathing in the scent he had smelled on Meri.

"How long had you been standing there?" Kyoya finally worked up the courage to ask.

"Pretty much the whole time," Tamaki replied with no hint of anger or hurt.

Perplexed but relieved, Kyoya hoped his friend heard him try to resist. Tenderly comforting the young Souh with a gentle back rub, the other boy asked, "Are you angry with me for sleeping with her?"

"No, who do you think sent her in here?" the blonde replied before adding, "I didn't know you were going to make me look bad by doing her up so good though, but thanks for trying so hard to resist. You must have been in agony."

Kyoya couldn't believe it when he heard Tamaki give a little chuckle. "What the Hell are you saying, Tamaki?" Kyoya was having trouble wrapping his mind around what his friend was thinking.

"She told me why she couldn't sleep, and I asked her if she would help you," the tawny-haired, young man replied.

"She didn't get pissed?" Kyoya asked incredulously.

"No, I explained things before I asked her, and she's on board," Tamaki replied.

"Shit! On board with what?" Kyoya was starting to feel like a dirty pig for what had gone on with his friend's lover.

"Our family...the three of us, Daddy, Mommy and our wife," Tamaki replied innocently.

Kyoya was shocked. The Tamaki he knew would have never dreamed of doing something as lurid and sordid as sending his girlfriend to service his best friend, but when the sweet blonde gave his simple, almost child-like reasoning, the Ootori boy knew his friend hadn't meant any harm. Kyoya had actually been thinking something similar but not quite in those terms. Earlier while Tamaki and Meri were crawling all over each other, the young Ootori had managed to have an enlightening conversation with his new sister, Chi, and she even allowed him access to some of the compound's records.

The tiny girl told him his biological mother, Dreama, had died awhile ago, but Chi was unwilling to say anything else about the woman except that she was a bad person. Kyoya also learned he had eight additional siblings out in the world somewhere. Chi didn't know if they stuck to the plan, but originally, the group was headed for Mount Fuji. From what he could gather from the files as well as the bits and pieces he had already put together, these kids were powerful and could potentially be very dangerous. If they were anything like Meri and Chi, they had next to no moral upbringing, and he felt it was his obligation to find them and at least try to teach them right from wrong.

Kyoya had hoped that Tamaki, who had always wanted to be 'daddy,' would be willing to help him parent his siblings. The handsome brunette already knew Meri's relationship with his platonic soulmate would blur the parental lines. Initially intending to treat her as something akin to a niece, Kyoya planned to gently nudging her in the right direction with Tamaki's help, but he never imagined he would end up being intimate with her as well. Now everything was all muddle up, but Tamaki's idea had presented an intriguing solution. Normally, the idea of two men sharing a woman would have brought to mind a scene from a tasteless, pornographic movie. Only someone with a heart like Suoh's could turn such a scenario into a something sweet and unselfish.

Returning from the bathroom, Meri's hair was towel dried and her skin was still a bit damp as she stood by the bed, "Aren't you two cute," she said of the snuggling boys. Tamaki slipped over and pulled back the covers, allowing her to slip in between him and Kyoya. Reaching over, the blonde, young man threaded his arms around Meri and pulled her back to his chest as his best friend slipped closer. Slipping his knee between the girl's thighs, Kyoya could feel Tamaki's leg behind hers. The brunette placed his hand on Meri's arm, and Tamaki placed his hand on the other boy's shoulder. Meri had laid her forehead against Kyoya's chest, leaving the two males in the hugging trio with their faces just inches apart. The onyx-haired beauty's heart skipped a beat when he saw the smile on his friend's lips, lighting up flecks of brilliant purple in those signature, Suoh eyes just before they closed. Kyoya smiled to himself, thinking polyandry might just work out well for the three of them before he drifted off to sleep.

**Author's Note**: Thanks for reading my story! Please take a moment to review.

**Next Chapter**: Tamaki faces his attacker with the help of Kyoya and the girls. Mori meets up with Kasanoda, and Honey reunites with a friend. Nekozowa gets lucky, and Haruhi and the twin's have some new troubles.


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